August 2008

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Local basketball star wins fourth gold medal

  Hoop star Lisa Leslie went out in style at the Olympics in Beijing. Leslie helped the U.S. women’s basketball team crush Australia 92-to-65 to win the gold medal, yesterday. Team USA has taken the gold in four straight Olympics — beating the Aussies in the last three for it. Leslie scored 14 points before fouling out with 6:33 left […]
Sunday, August 24, 2008

Another visitation at Grand View cemetery

  Visitors spent time at gravesites during the August 10 opening at Grand View. For the second time this month, Grand View Memorial Park cemetery will be open to the public today from noon until 4 p.m.  I dropped by during the Sunday, August 10 opening and was surprised by the small turnout and the bleak appearance of the Glendale cemetery. I have heard […]
Saturday, August 23, 2008

Barack Obama picks a running mate

The suspense and political intrigue are over!  The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has picked Delaware Senator Joe Biden for the number two spot on the ticket. Senator Biden is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Biden is an expert on foreign policy and familiar with foreign leaders and diplomats around the world. In 2007, Biden made his own run […]
Saturday, August 23, 2008

Another Olympian gets a super book deal

  Photo by Vince Caligiuri King of the gold, swimmer Michael Phelps is cashing in on his Olympic success. In Beijing, Phelps made history by diving into the pool and racing to eight gold medals in a single Olympics. Phelps surpassed the record of seven gold medals set by swimmer Mark Spitz in 1972. Phelps is only 23, but last week […]
Friday, August 22, 2008

Caltech scores high on list of best American colleges

Caltech founded in 1891 The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena is small but mighty.  Caltech, a major research institution, has a student body of about three thousand. U.S. News & World Report has come out with its 25th annual best American colleges lists for 2009 and Caltech rated very high. In the rankings of best national colleges for undergraduate studies Harvard […]
Friday, August 22, 2008

F. Scott Fitzgerald & Brad Pitt

          F. Scott Fitzgerald                              Brad Pitt Author F. Scott Fitzgerald made some serious money, but had little real success as a screenwriter during his time in Hollywood. His only screen credit was for the drama “Three Comrades,” in 1938. Decades later, Fitzgerald’s storytelling is very much in demand in Tinseltown. A movie based on Fitzgerald’s 1922 short story, “The Curious Case […]
Thursday, August 21, 2008

Writing Tips

Today, BookEnds literary agent Jessica Faust defines some of the important terms and phrases in the publishing biz.  Faust’s short Publishing Dictionary is listed on her BookEnds agency blog. The dictionary includes definitions for things like advance, mass market, imprint, query, royalities, sell-through, and world rights. All written in a straight forward and easy to understand style. Well worth checking out. Faust’s agency blog is one […]
Thursday, August 21, 2008

Update on SAG negotiations & location filming in Burbank

     Those long-running Screen Actors Guild negotiations appear to be stalled in a nowhere zone. The most recent press release posted on SAG’s website is dated August 15 and it claims “informal discussions” are happening. Ah, but wait, over on the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ website a posted statement denies there are ANY talks underway.  Not a good […]
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Books take a back seat to movies and TV

Book lovers browse at a bookstore in Burbank. People are going to the movies in huge numbers this summer as well as catching up on favorite TV programs after the script drought created by the WGA writers’ strike, so maybe that’s why some book sales are sagging. Bookstore sales declined in June, according to Publishers Weekly. During the first five months of the year, these sales were […]