Every last page of my award-winning screenplay, Mount Pleasant, is now available online. This script won the Film DC Screenplay Competition. It is a feature-length script, inspired by true events, about gentrification and urban politics in Washington, DC.
Read the whole thing.
Transformer kicked off 2010 by inviting DC based artists Jessica Cebra and Zach Storm to transform their project space into a snow globe winter wonderland. Incorporating painting, drawing, and collage to create a whimsical, winter-themed environment, this unique collaboration featured a live ballet performance choreographed by Washington Ballet Director Septime Webre.
http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649
I also wrote about this cool event for the Pink Line Project.
Check out my Pink Line Project review of Kerry Skarbakka, The Struggle to Right Oneself: A Survey. The photos really have a dark humor to them that I really enjoyed. They’re big prints of absurd scenes – like a man in a suit leaping through fire – that tell a story, of people surviving unexpected catastrophe.
It’s the end of the year, and the end of a decade. What were my favorite projects of 2009? What did I have the most fun working on?
I can’t help myself, I like to write fiction. People have asked me how I could leave my job and then spend countless hours alone, in a coffee shop, writing a novel. I’ve offered advice on setting a schedule and being committed, but the truth is that writing a book is a huge sacrifice and something that you must really, really want to do. And something that you must enjoy doing more then anything else. (more…)
I’ve done another interview for the Pink Line Project, this time with Julianne Brienza, Executive Director of the Capital Fringe Festival.
I met Julianne several years ago, when Fringe was just starting out. It’s amazing and inspiring to see how far she’s come. Fringe is definitely something that way too serious DC needs. As she describes in the interview, Washington is very much a city on the rise in terms of the arts.
I’m going to be writing for the Pink Line Project. What’s Pink Line? Describing itself as “a catalyst for the culturally curious”, the site is a guide to DC’s art and cultural scene. If you’re looking to attend fun art parties in Washington, and learn more about the arts, it’s a great site to check out.
From watching rollergirls arm-wrestle to dodging skateboarders at a photo exhibit, I’ve enjoyed the Pink Line events immensely. It’s an unexpected side of stuffy Washington that’s much more interesting than some boring Capitol Hill cocktail party. (more…)
Under construction, this new against the flow bike lane will stretch down 15th St. from U St. to Massachusetts Av.
Go see the best of DC Shorts on Thursday night at E Street Cinema.
It was a great festival again. I’ve volunteered with DC Shorts for more than four years now and each year it gets better and better.
My personal favorite film in the festival was Funky Prairie Boy. It won the Diversity Award (presented by Verizon). This short Canadian film is about:
A young boy living in a small prairie town during the early 1980s, befriends the only black kid at his school and soon discovers the prejudice that exists within his friends, his family and even in himself.
It’s got the most well-developed story of all the films I saw at DC Shorts. The characters seem real, all of them a mix of good and bad impulses. The short film captures the awkwardness of children dealing with adult issues of race and prejudice. Yet, it’s not an afterschool special, where the plot is driven by social points to be made. Instead, it’s a messy and funny look at kids trying to be kids. While they’re trapped in a rigid world that they didn’t create, they just want to dance and hangout.
Now in it’s sixth year, DC Shorts has been named by MovieMaker Magazine as “one of the nation’s leading short film festivals.” The festival features 100 films from across the country and around the world. What’s unique about DC Shorts is its focus on the filmmaker, many of whom will be in attendance this year.
I’ve been involved in DC Shorts almost since the beginning. I volunteered with Jon Gann, founder of the festival, and was a film judge for a couple years. Me and other volunteers watched and rated the hundreds of submissions that came in. We used a clever online system to do so. One key trait about DC Shorts is how professional and well organized it is, from top to bottom. (more…)
Since I finished writing Murder in Ocean Hall, I’ve gotten questions from friends and family regarding the book. Creating something from nothing seems enough of a magical act to inspire some questioning. The question I’ve gotten most is:
Where’d you get the idea from?
I originally planned to write a much different book, something much more serious and literary. It’s a manuscript that I’ve worked on for three or four years and exists on my laptop as a mix of disparate scenes and ideas that have never quite come together. The novel that I had in mind was a much grimmer story, about DC during the summer before 9/11. The book is about people chasing success, unaware that their world is about to be undone.
Finishing that big serious book was my plan. It’s why I decided to leave my government contractor job. (more…)