Today's Thought

Woke up this morning not knowing where I was. Ticked when I found out I wasn't in Oz. Darn Frank Baum making promises he can't keep!

The Call to Live

Catherine and I first ran into Peter at the Butterfly Sanctuary in Kuranda, a rain-forest village near Cairns in Australia. 

We didn’t meet him then, but we were part of the same handful of people following a guide around the butterfly haven.

I felt a strong prompting, telling me I should introduce myself and strike up a conversation.

Being the spiritually in-tune person that I am, I did what I always do when prompted to engage a stranger in conversation: I ignored that prompting.

Which made it all the harder to ignore when we ran into him again seven days later and seventeen hundred miles away. Catherine pointed him out at the gate for our flight home from Sydney.

So this time I did strike up a conversation, and we gelled instantly. We even learned that he was friends with one of my all time favorite story-tellers – Walter Wangerin, Jr.

Peter’s own story is amazing – a long-time caregiver for his wife, who upon her passing decided to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Sounds like a movie, no? It would in fact make for a great screen story.

He has kept a blog chronicling these adventures called The Call to Live.

I bring this up because Catherine and I are the topic of today’s entry.

Worth spending some time thumbing through his archives.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

How I Spent My Weekend...

Yep, I broke into churches and forced them to listen to me lecture on the structure of Star Wars.

It was a good time until the police showed up...

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Zoo Reading

While down under, we went to the zoo.  Cath decided to bring one of her favorite books along.

She was quite engrossed in her book, which was a good thing, as the trip turned out to be rather boring.

Cath didn't see anything of interest on the ferry ride there.

She didn't see any kangaroos that day.

Or any wallabies.

She didn't see any emus.

Nor did she spot any elephants.

No big ol' bears were to be found.

She didn't even see any giraffes.

What a boring zoo! Good thing she had such a good book with her!

Just my thoughts,

Sean

The Big Trip Day One

Saturday night was the flight - 15 hours to Melbourne before a transfer to a flight to Hobart. To help pass the time, I watched "Red" and "The Next Three Days." Cath watched "How Do You Know."

Her flight took 23 hours. 

First day down under was about relaxing. 

Pick up from the airport by hosts John and Ros; driving tour of the area; and a nap (to make it an authentic Aussie experience, we napped in a counterclockwise direction).

We dined in, sharing our time and hosts with their daughter Ruth and her family. (Thank you Caleb for the thoughts on "The Hunger Games.")

In addition to food, we dined on conversation ranging from school discipline (it's hard to convince the kids that racing their wheeled chairs around the room is inappropriate after teacher spends the first day of class on a scooter...) to why Grover is much cooler than Elmo ("There is a Monster at the End of this Book" anyone?")

A delightful, delightful evening.

Tourism can wait for another day; this one is all about hanging with the natives.

Just my thoughts, 

Sean

Year In Review: 2010

We recently uncovered a listing of television shows scheduled to arrive in 2010 – and thought it would be fun to look back and see which shows were hits and misses. 

Thanks to Entertainment Yearly and Gaffney Guide for these descriptions. 

Programming Scheduled in 2010:

THE GUESTROOM  Drama; Friday nights.  An anthology series with a rotating cast of guest stars as they find love, adventure, magic, and cat fur while visiting Sean, Cath, and River.  Famous guest stars include:  Isaac, Beth, Niffer, David & Ann, Irene, Faith & Sarah, Bethanie, Lauren & Scott, Wayne & Jean, Wayne & Pat, Luke and Felicia. 

THE BOWL  Culture; Sundays on PBS.  Exciting adventures as Sean and Cath introduce their parents to the wonders of the Hollywood Bowl.  Spring special focuses on Wayne and Jean attending the Bel Air Pres Easter Service at the bowl, followed shortly with an earthquake.  The Summer special finds Wayne and Pat watching the antics of Bugs Bunny and company as the symphony plays along.

MUSICAL MYSTERY  Suspense; Thursdays.  Detectives Sean and Catherine are on the trail of the missing musical, tracking the slippery song and dance shows throughout the country.  They nearly catch “Guys and Dolls” at a living room read event at Janet and Lee’s (all attendees sit in a circle and pop up to read/sing their parts); they corner “In the Heights” at Pantages; race against “A Walk in the Woods” with Dean and Beth in a Noho theater; then sprint up the coast to catch “Man of La Mancha” red handed at Taproot in Seattle. 

THE AMAZING, WELL WE’LL GET THERE WHEN WE GET THERE, RACE  Reality, Mondays.   Sean and Catherine race (well, mosey) to various locations around the country for prizes (or vacation and business).  They visit Cayucos over a long weekend, and buy seasalt cookies.  Air Force jets buzz by Sean as he watches Isaac’s graduation in CO.  Cath drags Sean for a business trip in Red Rock outside Vegas for a dance conference (special guests Shon, Jodi and Chantal).  Sean faces freezing weather to venture out alone to Nashville to work on a book pitch (no news on the book pitch until 2011). Reality series already renewed for April 2011 trip to Australia and Tasmania.

ENTERTAINMENT THIS AFTERNOON  News, daily.  In depth coverage of the entertainment going-ons of Sean and Cath.  Show includes links to Cath’s breakout series BETTY AND DD (www.bettyanddd.com), her performance in THE KILLERS, and to Sean’s occasional badd videos (www.belairdrama.com).  Coverage also on Cath’s new headshots (www.catherinegaffney.net … yes, that is grey hair!), and audition travails, including exclusive coverage of Catherine signing with a new manager and being sent out to network auditions.

THE VEGAS THANKSGIVING  Comedy; Holiday Special.  After following the directions from a discount GPS machine that Sean buys, a group of friends are forced to spend Thanksgiving in Las Vegas instead of their intended destination of Vermont.  The gang endures comical trials, including viewing a Bill Cosby show, attending a Cirque d’ Soleil event, shopping at the Forum, eating at the Bellagio buffett and shouting AMEN at the gospel brunch at the House of Blues, until finally Mark wins enough poker money to buy them all bus tickets home.  Cast includes:  Joel, Mark, Nicole, Shon, Jodi, Ray, Karen, Bob, Anne, Beth, Sean and Catherine.  (NOTE:  This special received such high ratings that the network is already planning a sequel.)

A VERY REOHR NEW YEAR  Comedy; Wednesdays.  The whacky antics of Trey, Abby, Katie, Paige, Dick and Mary as they ring in the New Year with special guest stars Uncle Cath and Uncle Funny.  Plot to be determined. 

Thumbs up for a great year.  Stay tuned on Facebook, Twitter (cathgaff), Skype (seancath), email, text, phone, or sky writing for a brand new season of wacky Gaffney programming in 3D (no glasses required). 

Becca By The Book

Having friends who are authors expands my reading horizons, as I take an interest in books that might not have otherwise caught my eye – whether that be a book of wacky quotes (CRAZY JANET) or chick-lit murder mysteries (KILLER COCKTAIL).

And thus it was a friendly author that got me to read BECCA BY THE BOOK, a “Getaway Girl” novel from a Christian publishing imprint.

I trusted author Laura Jensen Walker when she asked me to read the book, because I knew her witty writing from her cancer-survivor novel (RECONSTRUCTING NATALIE), and because she knew me – mostly that I had little interest in chick-lit (unless someone is murdered, thank you Sheryl), romance (unless in comedy, preferably starring Sandra Bullock) or contemporary Christian fiction that has prominent shelf space at Christian book stores.

Laura knows me, and she said don’t worry. And I needn’t have.

Chick-lit? Not so bad, as Becca, the heroine/narrator of BECCA BY THE BOOK is not girly (like her roommate Kailyn).

Mushy romance? Again, nope, as Becca is not defined by her search for a mate.

Christian fiction? Here’s where Laura did me proud: Becca is decidedly not a Christian. The novel does take her into that world, but as an outsider looking in, with plenty of comedic ammunition to prevent this from becoming a “this is for the choir” type book.

It is Laura’s comedic pov that makes this book a delightful read. The Getaway Girl books are about a women’s book club; each book is from the point of view of a different member, this one being Becca’s turn.

Snarky, non-conformist, and “says what I’m thinking” honest, she finds herself in trouble when she makes a bet with her club to prove she can commit: the next guy to ask her out gets three months before being shown the door.

Except the next guy to ask her out is churchy (Becca isn’t), and insists that most of their dates be to church functions. And that’s where the fun flies, as Becca gets to play “guess the famous woman of faith” at the high tea (who the heck is Esther and how come she doesn’t have a last name – is she like Madonna or Cher or something?), spend a long ride in the van with Bible thumper Donald (who just loves to hide Bible tracks in her pockets), and walk through the kitsch sales aisle at the Church Convention (“Blood of the Savior Red” nail polish, anyone? If only such things were confined to fiction…)

As Becca searches for her own sense of meaning, it helps to have a sense of humor along for the ride. And this is an enjoyable ride.

Along the way, Becca makes a list of Christian phrases that she doesn’t understand, so her churchy friends can help translate. The “Getaway Girls Guide to Christianese” is included in the back of the book, and worth the read all of its own.

My favorite: “Be in the world and not of: Kind of like Lucky Charms cereal; there are lots of pretty marshmallows in with the cereal, but they’re not the same. So live with the cereal, but remember: you’re a pretty marshmallow.”

Here’s hoping some smart publisher gets Laura to expand the Guide to book length.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Two Goods for One Smile

I am a tad stretched for time these days. I'm in post on two shorts I directed (one for BADD, one a doc for Cloud & Fire), I'm two scripts behind in script consulting, I'm overdue on writing two shorts I've promised people, and my own full-length screenplay rewrites are off -- on two scripts, a comedy and a sci-fi actioner.

What is it about the number two these days?

And I'm behind in my blog posts -- including the essay I intended on how the reaction to the Nobel Peace Prize signals the end of patriotism in America. Alas, it looks like I won't be getting to that for a while. And I really wanted to tell y'all how great I thought "Zombieland" was.

Another two I'm missing.

Add to that the depression over the church book burnings and the reminder of what's wrong with pundit driven news, and I really needed something good to focus on.

Maybe two somethings.

And I got 'em:

The Amazing Race combined with a Potteresque missed-the-train-got-to-get-to-Hogwarts adventure from Janet -- made my day.

And a little bit of art, as artists take their hand at re-imagining movie posters. My favorites: Spiderman and Ratatouille.

Take a load off, read, let a visual wash over you, and smile.

In fact, I recommend trying it twice.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Geek Rush

(Standard view for most sessions – yep, this is what it looked like from my pov for three days…)

-Friday afternoon rolled into San Diego. Didn’t even unpack the luggage – walked straight from the hotel valet to the Con

-Went into a panel we didn’t care about in order to secure seats in the room for a later panel that we did care about. You do a lot of that at the Con.

An author, in defending how thick the book he wrote was, said, “I spent an entire month writing that novel. How small do you expect it to be?” I alone in the room laughed. Apparently he wasn’t joking.

-Heard the best response to the question: “How do you get your ideas?” To which an author asked back, “I’m trying to figure out how you turn your ideas off?”

-Heard Stephan Pastis (PEARLS BEFORE SWINE comic strip) give his hilarious lecture, complete with cartoons and stories from the trenches of syndication.

Best take-away – Stephan claims his writing did not become good until he stopped trying so hard. He would draw and write as fast as he could, preventing himself from over-editing his initial ideas; he just let it flow.

-Walked the exhibition hall floor. Couldn’t get within six feet of the booths sponsored by the studios. If you want to punish a claustrophobe, make them stand in the middle of the exhibition hall at the Con.

-Saw all kinds of costumes. A full family of Jedi knights, including a lightsaber holding infant in a stroller. A squadron of Predators. A full on transformer – Bumblebee. The entire Superman and Batman family of characters. A number of anime characters, a Patrick from Spongebob and a gaggle of girls wearing red cat hoods. You see a lot of stuff like that at the Con.

-Skipped out early that day, instead seeing the movie MOON. Well worth it.

-Spent Saturday morning taking an extended breakfast with friends who live in SD. Doing the Con casual this year, no need to rush.

-Stood an hour in line for a SteamPunk event. Didn’t get in despite the wait. You do a lot of that at the Con.

-Random line overheard while pushing past a mob swarming for a freebie: “I don’t know what that is – but I want one!”

-Two sessions that you can usually get into that never disappoint: Quick Draw (think improv for artists) and voice over panels.

-Got into the Ray Bradbury session. The moderator spent the first 20 minutes of the one hour session ignoring the fact that Ray was sitting next to him, instead schilling for his own projects, which had nothing to do with Bradbury.

The only entertainment was watching him scramble to come up with connections to justify using up this session for the hawking. One book was a remake of a project that was inspired by an artist that had once met Ray Bradbury. Another was a movie project that might consider casting minor roles with actors that may have at one time been in a play written by Bradbury. Sad.

-The highlight of Ray’s session: showing a clip of an interview with Mike Wallace on the night of the moon landing. The lowlight: seeing how feeble and a bit crazy the sci-fi master has become.

-Passed a lady wearing a baseball jersey and lacy panties that were a tad too small to fulfill their proper function. If it was meant to be a costume, I couldn’t tell you what character. As we passed, heard her complain to her male companion, “People keep staring at my butt. I don’t know why.”

Catherine prevented me from stopping to explain to her why.

-Watched the pilot for HUMAN TARGET. I was a fan of the comic back in the seventies; the tv series isn’t much like the comic. But I liked it a lot anyway.

-Skipped the three hour line for evening screenings, opting instead for the one and a half hour line at Spaghetti Factory. If you are going to be in a long line, there might as well be food at the end of it.

- Stood in line with a lawyer, who happened to also have sold four screenplays, and has a sister who writes on a television series. You do a lot of that at the Con.

-Witnessed a security guard stopping an actual robot replica of R2D2 from rolling into a restricted area. Apparently that was the droid he was looking for.

-Sat with 2,000 of my closest friends watching a DOCTOR WHO panel including showrunner Russel T. Davies and star David Tennant. My wife swooned over the star, which really was as it should be. Responding to a shout of “We love you!” Tennant looked over the massive audience and replied, “And we love you. Each of you in a slightly different, individual way.”

-Left the Con, headed back to LA and sat in traffic for several hours. You do a lot of that at the Con.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

I am the guest speaker at Beacon this Sunday (the 12^th) at my church, Bel Air Presbyterian. Beacon is a group with the goal to “equip, inspire and encourage believers in the entertainment industry.”

I’ll be talking about such trivial things as Truth and beauty, what makes films made by Christians different than other films (and yes, I will talk about low quality being one of those differentials), and why Americans so easily (and eagerly) get it wrong.

Sound controversial enough?

I wont’ be re-enacting the opening to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, which is the only thing I do that I know works every time. So without a gimme, I’m a bit nervous.

Wanna see me crash and burn? This Sunday, starting at 12:30 (well, they have some lunch and socialize at 12:30, talks usually start closer to 1pm).

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Always Start With a Joke

To ease back into writing, I’m just going to steal a joke from Chris:

***
And Jesus said unto them, “And who do you say that I am?”

They replied, “You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of being, the ontological foundation of our very selfhood revealed.”

And Jesus replied, “What?”
***

Hee hee…

For some pix on our adventure in Hawaii, check out Sarah’s blog.

And I’ll start talking myself soon, now that the ice has been broken.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Cyn City

I have a bone to pick with Jeffrey Overstreet.

Sure, you all know him as a nice guy, and the author of AURALIA'S COLORS.

You may also know that the next chapter in the Auralia Thread series is out, CYNDERE'S MIDNIGHT. And that's where Jeff and I have a problem.

You see, my wife and I just went to Vegas for a weekend getaway. Just me, her and...

Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's our travelogue.


That's the Flamingo, our hotel.



Here we are playing the slots.



And we got some time in at the blackjack table. The dealer got distracted.



We went down the strip for a bit. Uh, Cath, our stop is coming up.



Here we are at KA, the Cirque d' Soleil show. The show was so exciting, Cath even looked up from her book to see some of it.

Once.


Cath got to share some culture with a cast member.



This is from the Luxor hotel. Notice all the beautiful things around you, Cath?



Even the polar bears can't put the book down.

And at the end of the day, the conversation was all about how unfair life is that book three hasn't been finished yet.

Thanks, Jeff. Only Rowling has given me this much trouble.

Friends, let me warn you -- Overstreet's books are addictive. Apparently even more so than Vegas.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Where To Read Harry...

Here's the lake house we stayed in for the first weekend in Atlanta. Focus on the second floor balcony...

Now put a book the size of the Manhattan phone directory in this young lady's hands, and you have an idea of how the first few days of reading were spent.

Bonus picture: a cute couple on the lake.

Just my pix,

Sean

Long Time No Write

So, it’s been two weeks.

Wish I had great excuses for no blogging in that time. I do have a few mediocre ones…

Started with a trip to Atlanta – I’m consulting with ArtWithin, who commissioned five screenplays over the past year. The writers are on draft 4ish; and with each draft, I give my feedback.

This time the feedback came with table reads (with a full complement of actors) and workshops – a full week of working on the five scripts.

When negotiating my pay for this gig, Cath suggested that one perk I should demand is that AW pay to send her with me on one of the trips; a perk that backfired as Cath had to spend a week in record breaking heat and humidity. That’ll teach her for wanting to spend time with me!

The work was productive; as was some of the down time. Both Cath and I finished a certain tome on a boy wizard; the title escapes me. Something about a deadly Halloween, or something. I’m sure you wouldn’t have heard of it.

Must say Cath had the best of the reading time – sitting on the porch of a lake house under a fan, facing the water while visiting a world of elves and dragons and people whose names shouldn’t be mentioned (no, really, don’t mention them this time).

I finished the final chapters between script meetings and writer’s exercises and Bible studies. Still worth it.

I moved on from there to Gogol’s DEAD SOULS – colorful, fantasy Hogwarts to colorful, satirical Russia. Not a bad leap.

And Cath grew more active in the screenplay development process, lending her acting chops to the readings. She soon became highly requested by the authors, lending her craftsmanship to driving the readings and providing much needed color.

Oh, and I managed to squeeze in a little re-writing on some shorts as well.

So that’s my excuse for the first week of silence…

More later.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

Blooming in Harsh Places

Walking through Zion National Park we saw so much life clinging on to the side of rocks where it looked like nothing could grow.

Hmmm...remind anyone of Christians in Hollywood?

(Surrounded by thorns, but choosing to be light instead of prickly.)

These beautiful creations are so resilient and all they need is a little bit of water seeping out of the rock and then they hold on and bloom.

Blossoms for thought:

--cath

Boundaries One

Not all the trails in the Arches are clearly marked.

Sure the trail starts out like all of them do – very tourist friendly, much of it paved, some portions even conspicuous with handrails.

But that only gets you to the obvious view – the common sightseer spot. If you so dare, you can go beyond the basics, past the easy, ahead of the road most traveled, and get an eyeful of the less trampled vistas.

That means going past the visitor safety zone, behind the arches, and out of sight of the parking lot. And here the trails are not so clearly marked.

You are instructed to look for the cairns marking the passage. “Cairns” is a fancy way of saying “pile of stones.” Of course, out here, everything is a pile of stones, so spotting a pile of stones marking a path through a pile of stones is easier said than done.

Just about when you are ready to acknowledge that you’ve been punked, you relax your eye and see the bigger picture – then the cairns come into focus, almost obvious as they mark the trail.

A bit further along, and even the cairns seem to have disappeared. Here you must go on faith – continuing in the direction the past stones sent you on, trusting that a bend would be signaled, that the feller that set the path wouldn’t forget to mark the turnings.

And when the path does divert, you pause and look for the signs. Sometimes you will see the cairns to the side, and change course.

Or maybe you will see markings of where the travelers before you sojourned, and entrust yourself to their path.

And every now and again, when a deviation seems too tempting or obvious, that little sign will appear.

“This is not a trail.”

No rebuke, no judgment; just a printed voice in the wilderness, a red board suggesting that if you want to be on the trail, this isn’t the place to be.

You pause at the top of a hill, having followed the spirit of the cairns through turn and a climb that didn’t seem like it would lead anywhere. Yet here you are, your breath sucked out by the view.

And you look behind you – the trail seems obvious from here. Looking back makes it clear, you haven’t been fooled by false divinations.

Nature piled into cairns; faith in motion; the signs of those who’ve come before; and the occasional reminder of what is not the trail.

Before leaving the paved path, you could understand why some folks would settle for the easy view.

But now, with eyes to see, you revel in the exquisiteness of intimate beauty.

Not all the trails are clearly marked.

And that is good.

Just my thoughts,

Sean

When the Slow Road is Best...

I mentioned Utah Hwy 128 (officially listed as a scenic byway) in my last post.

Winding, slow, narrow - certainly not a road to take if you need to get somewhere fast.

But once we were on this road, we were glad to "BE" - we didn't even need to "GO".

Here are some shots I took when we pulled off the road for the view.


Where we had come from.


Straight up.


And where we were heading.

When I got back to work this week, I began to mention this highlight of our trip and my boss interrupted me with "Highway 128! That's my favorite highway in the country!"

Take it. Go slow. Enjoy. Stop and go rafting (that's what I'd like to do next time). Camp. Whatever. Just check it out!

Bit by the travelin' bug,
cath

Park Avenue ... Utah!

We took a lot of pictures while on our road trip. So, for a few days, this blog will be turning into a photo album. Hope you don't mind.

This was taken at our first stop in ARCHES NATIONAL PARK at a grouping of rocks called "Park Avenue". (I highly recommend stopping here anytime you are driving the 70 from Colorado through Utah. And take the 128 scenic byway to get there - we'll post pictures of that journey soon.)

From our travels,
cath

Generations of History

Sean & I had the opportunity to see Mount Rushmore for the first time last week.

The magnitude of what these four men did to extablish, expand, protect and preserve our nation was overwhelming.

That evening, the ranger asked anyone who had served in the armed forces to come down to the front along with their spouses. These men then retired the flag for the evening. It was wonderful to honor these men with our applause.

What I didn't expect were the tears that began to pour down my face as they passed the microphone down the line and each person told where and when they served. Everything from WWII to Iraq was represented. We kept clapping and crying until my hands were stinging and my face was sopping. We are blessed.

This photo of our niece Genavieve is one of my favorites from our trip.

There is something about the younger generation in bright life directly in front of the past in grey stone that is both delightful and profound.

From our travels,

Cath

Crazy Kroc Memorial

We visited the Crazy Horse Memorial, shortly after visiting Mount Rushmore. Both, as you know, are mountainsides turned into gi-normous sculptures of American heroes.

At Crazy Horse, tucked in among other statues by artist Ziolkowski, was a bust of Ray Kroc, apparently a friend of the sculptor.

My niece saw Ray’s visage, and wanted to know who that guy was. We informed her that he founded McDonalds.

Her face scrunched up as she asked, “You mean they almost put him on the mountain?”

We laughed at the notion, realizing how inappropriate it would be to put him up there, flanked by 100-foot arches.

But then again, such crass commercialism is oddly appropriate, given much of the focus of this “fast food nation.”

Makes me wonder what other inappropriately appropriate people we should carve into our mountains.

Ideas, anyone?

Just my thoughts,

Sean