I know this is a lesson in perspective, but it hurts nonetheless.  Marquette’s senior point guard, Dominic James, broke his foot in last night’s game and more or less dashed any hopes that this team will make a run in the NCAA tournament.  He was the engine that made them go.  But even worse, the break ends the collegiate career of one of the greatest Warriors of all time.  He was twenty five points away from passing George Thompson and becoming the second greatest scorer in MU history.  He was our greatest defender.  He holds the record for most games played by a Warrior. He wore his heart on his sleeve and dreamt of an NBA career. But four minutes into the game it was all over.  But he never left the bench and became the team’s biggest cheerleader. When our old coach abandoned the team over the summer, James was the first guy to step up and say that we’d be better than ever. He is going to be sorely missed.  My heart breaks for him.  Hell, my heart breaks for me.  Sometimes I wished I didn’t care about this team so much.  This sucks.

Death of a Hard Drive.  Who am I without my hard drive?  The answer thus far is a worthless mess.  To make matters worse my back up drive may have been compromised as well.  And if that is indeed true, then every picture, script and blog is no longer.  But hey, at least Marquette is on TV tonight.

UPDATE: Our point guard is done for his career, we lost the big game and my computer is still dead.

Happy Fat Tuesday Everyone.  We’re off to do it up “Nawlins” style. Or at the very least some oysters.

Speaking of tangible bad guys, cancer gets to find out what an ass kicking feels like today.  Love you, Sister.

#23. Saw The International.  Definitely my kind of movie, but it could have been so much better.  It certainly could have been less confusing with better execution and storytelling.  But the biggest problem I had with it was the main character.  While well acted, Clive Owen’s character was detached.  I just didn’t didn’t care enough about him to root for him.  To make matters worse, the bad guy was more of an idea than an actual person.  There just wasn’t anything tangible for the “good guy” to defeat.  Six down, four to go.

Of the most acclaimed movies of 2008, I have seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Wrestler, The Dark Knight, Revolutionary Road, Wall-E and Slumdog Millionaire.  Revolutionary Road was probably my favorite.  I still really want to see Frost/Nixon and The Reader.  Milk, not so much.

Here are my predictions:

1. Best Actor – Mickey Rourke Sean Penn
2. Best Supporting Actor – Heath Ledger
3. Best Actress – Kate Winslet
4. Best Supporting Actress – Taraji P. Henson Penelope Cruz
5. Animated Feature – Wall-E
6. Cinematography – Slumdog Millionaire
7. Directing – Slumdog Millionaire
8. Documentary – Man on a Wire
9. Original Screenplay – Milk
10. Adapted Screenplay – Slumdog Millionaire
11. Best Picture – Slumdog Millionaire

#75 Finito. I’ve been meaning to see the 80’s music/comedy cover band, the Spazmatics, for almost ten years now.  Last night, I finally did.  They didn’t disappoint.  Even better, I was joined by friends and family.  Sean and Kim danced the night away.  Kim’s sister, Tobi, tracked down a man.  And best of all, my dad and Georgeanne, against their better judgement, joined in the fun.  I reminded them at 12:08 that it was, in fact, 12:08.  What makes them staying so impressive was how the night started.  We arrived between 9:00 and 9:30 to a nearly empty place.  We had a table in front of the stage where a heavy metal/punk band was playing at ear drum busting decibel levels to their three tone deaf groupies.  At one point the “lead singer” demanded that Sean raise his F#@king fist in the air.  So Sean, dressed in his best punk outfit (a nice vest and starched collar) raised his f*#@king fist.  Despite the hearing loss, it was a great night.

#51. I Want.

Netflixed Hancock.  Great concept.  Big budget.  Bad story.

Where I’d rather be today.  It’s too cold and too wet today in L.A.

Sonia ordered me the Kindle 2 for Valentine’s day.  Although I won’t have it for a couple of weeks, it is the best gift she has ever gotten me.  While there is nothing like the tactile feeling of a real book, the Kindle is the future.  I really think the ipod for books will save the industry. Can’t wait.

#23. Saw Confessions of a Shopaholic.  It’s Valentine’s Day so I conceded the choice of movies to Sonia.  With that said, it was well done.  A cute movie.  No complaints.

#20 in progress. Three down, two to go.  Click photo to read.

#56.  A little over eight years ago, Ann Marie Boskovich sang at my film school graduation party.  Now she’s singing her way through American Idol.  Her talent couldn’t be any more foreign to me. In fact, I would be surprised if a Youmans, now or forever, will be able to hold a note.  We sound like tortured cats.  So with that in mind, it is only natural that singing karaoke would be on my list.  One hundred things on my list and this terrifies me more than anything.  Which, by the way, is why I made it a duet.  Going to take Sonia down with me.  So, what do we sing?  Anything Grease is out the window.  This is what remains.  Any favorites?

• Reunited – Peaches & Herb
• Up Where We Belong – Joe Cocker & Jennifer Williams
• Endless Love – Lional Richie & Diana Ross
• Don’t Go Breaking My Heart – Elton John & Kiki Dee
• You Don’t Bring Me Flowers – Neil Diamond & Barbara Streisand
• Islands in the Stream – Kenny Rodgers & Dolly Parton
• The Time of My Life – Jennifer Warnes & Bill Medley

John F. Kennedy said, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."  I hope to God he’s right.  I’ve been drowning in my current screenplay.  I love it and believe in it. But I still don’t quite know what "it” is.  Every day I write two to five pages only to delete them the following day.  This has been going on for months.  To make matters worse, Marquette lost for the second consecutive time today.  If it wasn’t for my sister, I’d be feeling sorry for myself right about now.  Like I said before, perspective is an amazing thing.

I call this piece, Cats in Hats.  After seeing some “interesting” German art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts I figured I’d throw my hat into the ring.  Trust me, I’d be huge in Germany.

#74 Completed. Sonia and I visited the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts today.  In addition to their permanent collection, LACMA featured two exhibits.  The first was “Arts of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures.  The title sounds more interesting than the art.  The art reflected the culture and times as it was mostly cold and dark.  The other exhibit was "Vanity Fair Portraits”. As the title suggests, this exhibit featured famous portraits from Vanity Fair Magazine.  Pretty cool.

#24 in progress.  Ate at Father’s Office in Santa Monica today.  It’s a small gastropub that is famous for it’s micro brews and burgers.  The burger looks better than it tasted.  It was good, but more of a fancy steak sandwich than a cheeseburger.  The oysters we had as an appetizer were great.  And the sweet potato fries were decadent.  Overall, it was pretty good, but we won’t be rushing back.  Laurel Tavern remains our favorite gastropub and burger.

My California Girl.  Remember when we used to look forward to the hot lunch at school?  Sure there were a few sub par days like mystery meat Wednesday, but overall most of us would rather have the hot lunch over brown bagging it.  Not so for our little girl and today was no exception.  As she is often able to do, Brit pulled at my heart strings and somehow convinced me to drop off some fresh spicy tuna and avocado sushi to her school for lunch.  There’s just no Chicago left in that one.

#23. Four down, Six to go. Taken is a familiar, but pretty good suspense thriller.  Because it is the kind of story that I primarily write it is hard for me to truly escape and get into the movie.  Instead, I analyze each scene down to the word and ask myself what I would do differently.  Nevertheless, it was a good night at the movies.  Moral of the story… Don’t let your teenage daughters travel outside of the country on their own.

#28. One down, four to go.  Brando plays a brooding and abusive jerk and is mesmerizing.  Vivien Leigh plays a whack job.  Great characters.  Adapted from the stage, the movie isn’t very cinematic.  Feels like a play.  But, Brando is incredible nonetheless.

The home office is one year old this month.  Starting our own business has been everything we had hoped it to be.  Sonia networks and shops with other people’s money and I am a part time CFO, part time writer.  No boss, no set schedule, no guaranteed pay check.  The last part is scary, especially in light of today’s economy, but so worth it.