Handy Market cooks grilling to the max at a recent July BBQ. 

The grill team will be smoking in the parking lot of the Handy Market on West Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank today. The market has been open for business more than 35 years. Also, Handy Market has won the Burbank Leader Readers’ Choice Award for the best grocery store 12 years straight.

Every Saturday, the market’s custom grill is fired up and laid out with turkey drumsticks, chicken sections, ribs, corn, sausages, and of course, the store specialty tri-tip. This is a major BBQ with some pretty tasty eats at reasonable prices. It’s no wonder folks keep coming back week after week.

The wonderful aroma  from the BBQ drifts through the air all-day long. Clouds of smoke from the grilling can be seen for blocks. Those that don’t mind the smoke line up at the grill to place their orders. Folks like me who would rather be smoke-free, make our selection at the market’s meat counter.

On a holiday weekend, the lines at both the inside and outside counters will probably be quite lengthy. Still, this is one of the best deals in town. Also, a nice way to let someone else work the grill on at least one day during the Labor Day holiday weekend.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain made a bold move that demonstrated the changing times. Today, Senator McCain announced the selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential pick.

At a rally in Dayton, Ohio, McCain introduced Palin, a relatively unknown politician, as the running mate who will “… help me shake up Washington.”

Before becoming governor of Alaska in 2006, Palin served as a mayor and council member of a small town in that state. She is 44, married, the mother of five children — one, a son, is serving in the army.

Palin will be the first woman to be nominated for vice-president by the Republicans and only the second female to run for the number two spot on a major party ticket. Democrat Geraldine Ferraro was the first in 1984.  

On the negative side, Palin is under investigation in a scandal involving the firing of a state official, Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.  

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Barack Obama’s eloquent and powerful speech of change still reverberates on the political scene, the day after the junior senator from Illinois stepped onto a stage in Denver and into the pages of history. Obama became the first African American to be nominated for president by one of the country’s two major political parties.

 A huge crowd of around 80,000 witnessed Obama’s acceptance speech at Invesco field in a Denver football stadium. Millions more watched as part of a huge television audience. I was among the masses glued to the tube listening to Obama state his case for and to America.

I shared this event with more than fifty Democrats who crowded into a two-bedroom condo for a Watch Obama Speech Party, sponsored by the Burbank Democratic Club. The noise level was quite high until Obama emerged and walked to the podium — then it was silence — except for the few whimpers of a fussy toddler.

The group, a mish-mash of diversity and backgrounds, frequently broke into applause, cheers or mumbled approval and encouragement.  Also, when Obama spoke with passion and conviction about the American promise, the hardships and sacrifices of average citizens as well as those of his own family, some were moved to tears.

They cheered loudly when Obama spoke of the economic and social changes he would make as president. Cheered even louder when Obama slammed the ”failed policies of George Bush.” And yes  there were even more cheers, when Obama attacked the presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain and skillfully linked the Arizona senator to the Bush administration.

At the end, Obama acknowledged the other historic factor of his speech — it was delivered on the 45th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I have a Dream” speech. Then it was over, the fireworks went off, the confetti dropped, and Obama stood center stage basking in the adulation of his party. A short time later, Obama would be joined in the spotlight by his wife Michelle, daughters Malia and Sasha, and his running mate Joe Biden and his wife, Jill.

Back in Burbank, the euphoria filled the room just as it did in that Denver stadium. It appears the Democrats are finally united and seriously ready to do battle for the White House. 

Prolific writer/producer Aaron Sorkin is apparently trying to get some real-life experience for his new screenplay. According to Variety, Sorkin has set up a personal page on the popular Internet social network, Facebook.

Sorkin is working on a script about the evolution of Facebook, from its humble beginnings in 2004 as an idea by Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerberg to more than 60 million members, a few years later.  Also, the script will show how the sudden wealth changed the lives of Zuckerberg and his pals who helped get Facebook off the ground.

Recently, Sorkin finished the screenplay for “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which is based on the trials of some of the key players involved in the infamous anti-Vietnam War protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Some of Sorkin’s notable screenplays that became hit movies are “A Few Good Men” 1992,  “Malice” 1993,  and  ”The American President ” in 1995.

Sorkin has been involved in numerous TV series including the highly acclaimed political drama, “West Wing” from 1999-2006.  

Coco Chanel 1883-1971

From book to movie

The life and times of legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel are headed to the big screen. The film “Coco Avant Chanel” is set to start filming in Paris in mid-September and scheduled for release next year.

Chanel is known for a classic style that has staying power. She introduced the perfume Chanel No.5 in 1922, her signature cardigan jacket in 1925, and the  ”little black dress” in 1926 — a few of her fashion achievements that are still popular today.

Also, Coco Chanel rose to fame through some interesting twists and turns in her life.  The upcoming film will be based on the Chanel biography “L’lrreguliere” (The Nonconformist) by Edmonde Charles-Roux.

The film will star Audrey Tautou and feature fashions from the Chanel collection. Warner Bros. will finance and produce the biopic. More details at Variety.

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Actress Hilary Swank has put a new movie project on the fast track.  Swank picked up movie rights to the novel “Something Borrowed” by Emily Giffin, according to the trades Variety and Hollywood Reporter.

Swank will reportedly star as the main character Rachel in an off-beat romance about a lawyer who falls in love with her best friend’s fiance. Swank will produce with partner Molly Smith through her new company 2S Films.

Also, the deal includes rights to Giffin’s sequel, “Something Blue.”

From play to movie to TV sitcom

Multi-talented actor and producer Tyler Perry has signed a new TV deal to create a sitcom based on his successful play-turned-movie, “Meet the Browns.”  The family drama/romantic comedy is a little film that earned over $40 million at the Box Office, earlier this year.

TBS has ordered 10 half-hours of “Meet the Browns.”  Perry will executive produce  and direct.

Perry has a sitcom “House of Payne” running on TBS and it’s the highest rated original sitcom ever on an ad-supported cable network. More details at Variety and Hollywood Reporter.

Photos: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove

The Burbank Town Center mall has become a tense place to work for some tenants and their employees.  Business owner Diana Daoud says she’s “scared” to carry merchandise to and from her car in the mall parking lot.

Also, Daoud is worried about another burglary at her second level AT&T Wireless kiosk. The business has been hit four times in less than a year-and-a-half – twice in the last few weeks. In just merchandise, the burglaries have cost Daoud more than $20,000.

She wants the  “… mall to put in cameras …do whatever other malls do.” About two weeks ago, Daoud went before the Burbank City Council and pleaded for help in getting security cameras in the mall and its parking lots.

I met with Daoud at her AT&T Wireless kiosk on Tuesday, August 19. Daoud appeared nervous and fearful about being watched – not by suspected criminals, but by mall security! Daoud said she was afraid of reprisals from management for talking to me. I had a camera and was taking notes during our chat.

I had heard about crimes at two other businesses, so I stopped at one of them after leaving Daoud’s kiosk. An employee confirmed the owner’s briefcase had been stolen from that “cart” location on Thursday, August 14.  He did not know the details, but  ”a lot” of money was involved.  Some tenants put the loss at around $2,000.

Before heading downstairs to try to get reaction from management, I stopped at a third business on the second level. I asked the owner if he had been a victim of crime? He said yes. I identified myself as a blogger working on an article about security at the mall. He responded with an eager “yes ” to my request to ask him some questions.

Later via e-mail I would find out that this owner (who doesn’t want his name used) has been a victim of what he called “a few minor robberies, the largest resulting in a loss of $500.” Also, this business owner expressed concerns about “retaliation for bad publicity” from the management. He says he has seen other owners punished and did not want to share their fate. In general, he likes the mall and makes a good living there.

We did not get a chance to have much of a discussion on the day I dropped by his business, because we were interrupted by as many as four security guards. One of them accused me of soliciting. Hmm, soliciting what or whom, she did not say.

I explained I was a blogger. I was then told I couldn’t ask questions in the mall without permission from management. I volunteered to go have a chat with management. The security guards, who apparently had plenty of time on their hands, escorted me downstairs through a maze of hallways to the office of General Manager Alan S. Osadchey.

A large pleasant man who smiled at me during our short conversation, Osadchey repeatedly told me “we don’t talk about security,” and would not comment directly to my questions about surveillance cameras.  Osadchey did say, “… we are very concerned about our tenants and shoppers…” (I suspect there are surveillance cameras of some kind operating in the mall)

When I shook his hand and prepared to leave Osadchey said, “I would ask you to not accost our tenants.”

On my way out of the mall, Osadchey’s last words kept running through my mind: “accost our tenants” sounds like what the bad guys are doing. Maybe that is part of the problem at the Burbank Town Center. The management doesn’t quite realize the public is not the enemy, that includes bloggers and tenants: the intruders preying on folks at the mall — now those are the ones who should be targeted by security and shown the door.

Photos: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove

A rash of burglaries and robberies have some business owners and their employees on edge at the Burbank Town Center mall in Downtown Burbank.  Business owner Diana Daoud brought her complaints and frustrations to the Burbank City Council on Tuesday, August 12.

During her few minutes at the podium, Daoud presented details about the recent burglaries at one of her businesses and then hammered home her bottom line point; the inadequate security at the Burbank Town Center has made the mall unsafe and an easy target for criminals.

Daoud is the co-owner of the AT&T Wireless kiosk on the second level of the mall in front of Mervyn’s, between Foot Locker and Fashion Nail Spa. This AT&T Wireless store has been hit four times by burglars in the past 13 months.

The most costly break-in occurred a few weeks ago on July 27, when thieves carried off $15, 000 in merchandise. The same bunch of criminals may have returned on August 3 for an encore only to find the store’s stock of cell phones and wireless products had been moved.

After her appearance before the city council I spoke with Daoud. The last two break-ins at her store happened on Sunday nights when mall security is light; sometimes only one security guard is on duty she says. Daoud suggests the thieves came through or left by way of a nearby second level exit, which she claims is left unlocked until 2 a.m. 

Daoud had security cameras installed at her AT&T Wireless kiosk in December of 2007, after the first two burglaries. She believes beefing up security personnel in the mall and installing surveillance cameras throughout the three level structure would really deter crime.

Meanwhile, there is concern among workers at Daoud’s business about the recent surge in crime as well. I dropped by the AT&T kiosk on Saturday, August 16 and spoke with two male employees.

Peter Aranda of Sun Valley was the first to arrive on the Monday after the July burglary. “Drawers were open… all the phones were gone. Only four (remained) … free ones.”

Aranda hopes the thieves don’t come back. Theo Okuribido of North Hollywood agrees. Okuribido fears the criminals will get bolder and come at “gun point” during closing time when employees are still at the kiosk. Daoud expressed similar fears as well.

Down the corridor, and next to the second level exit is the LA Trends Hair Salon. Manager Stella Keshishyan says the owner installed security cameras inside the salon when the business opened a year ago.

The hair salon has not been hit by crime, however, Keshishyan says mall security has asked them to “rewind the video” when investigating incidents that might have been caught on the salon cameras.

I saw a couple of private security guards on duty at the mall. One looked at the 35mm camera in my hand and told me I couldn’t take pictures. The security guard rattled off what sounded like a well-rehearsed spiel about the mall being  private property and something about protecting the brands and copyrights of the businesses. No photos? Hmm, I didn’t see any posted signs in the mall prohibiting photo taking.

There were hundreds of shoppers, perhaps thousands, in the Burbank Town Center mall on that Saturday and many of them probably had cameras on their cell phones. I wonder, do shoppers  know they can’t use their cell phone cameras in the mall? What about during an emergency?

I had questions. The security guard told  me to go downstairs to customer service and speak with management. So, I took the escalators to customer service on the first level. When I asked the nice lady behind the counter if I could talk with someone in management she glanced over at the dark offices and said, “They’re closed on the weekends.” She gave me a phone number and said I could call on Monday.

Eventually, I would have another encounter with mall security and hear more stories about crime as well as intimidation and retaliation at the Burbank Town Center. That will be coming up in part two called, ” Is The Burbank Town Center Mall Safe?”

What are the rules for granting an agent an exclusive read?  San Francisco literary agent Nathan Bransford gives his take on the subject in a post yesterday on his popular and in-the-know blog.

Bransford breaks down his advice into categories and starts with a definition of exclusive as it pertains to the submission of literary works. This is a very good post and well worth clicking over to Bransford’s blog to check out.

Thousands of Democrats are in Denver today for the opening of their four day convention at the downtown Pepsi Center. Closer to home, another political drama is set to play out in Beverly Hills this evening. 

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain and his wife Cindy will be special guests at a star-studded fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard.

 According to  The Washington Times and Variety, show biz conservatives like Angie Harmon, David Zucker, Jon Cryer, Craig T. Nelson, Jon Voight, and Robert Duvall are among those planning to fete the McCains.

Tickets reportedly started at $500 for the 35 and younger set and a thousand bucks for all others. While the Republicans are partying inside, the Democrats will be protesting at a march and rally in the streets outside.

I got an e-mail over the weekend from the Burbank Democratic Club announcing a “Rally Against McCain” in order “… to expose his big oil and corporate connections!”

Sounds like the stage is set for a lot of excitement in Beverly Hills as well as Denver. 

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 in the game, but no matter, her teammates finished the job. 

Leslie reportedly has played her last Olympics. She is bowing out of international play. Leslie and former teammate Teresa Edwards are the only athletes to win four gold medals in basketball.

Also, this was the 33rd straight Olympic game win for the U.S. women’s basketball team. Hey, the whole team deserves a ton of high-fives!!

Leslie will be returning to the WNBA to continue playing for the Los Angeles Sparks. Among her other accomplishments, in July of 2002 Leslie made history twice: by becoming the first WNBA player to reach 3000 career points and then the first player in the league to throw down a dunk in a regular season game. 

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 some relatives say it is too depressing, too sad a place to visit now. Some of the visitors I met at the August 10 visitation wished for better days.  “It was gorgeous… little hills and trees.” Deirdre Rosato from Canoga Park remembers what Grand View looked like back in the 70s and 80s.

 ”It was beautiful… fish ponds … fountains… angels… benches …flower beds.” Jerile Travis, a native of Glendale, described the Grand View of the past to me as well. Travis has a slew of relatives resting at Grand View and started coming to the cemetery in 1948 when she was only 4-years-old. 

Grand View on Sunday, August 10, 2008

There seemed to be fewer trees than the last time I visited Grand View in May. The grounds looked pretty much the same; dry, mostly brown with weeds and wild grasses still hiding many of the grave markers. I had hoped for some improvement.

 David Baum, lawyer for the owner Moshe Goldsman insists, after months of neglect, the cemetery is now being watered regularly with an above ground system that has  , “…hit the whole park already.” Baum brushes off complaints about the grim condition of the cemetery saying it is merely the difference between, ”… brown grass and green grass.”  As for the trees, Baum says out of 350 only 40 have been cut down and that was because of disease not lack of water.

At 124-years-old Grand View has served the community long enough to be allowed to age gracefully, quietly, and with dignity. Sadly, that is not the case. After the discovery by a state investigator of some human remains that had been improperly handled in 2005, Grand View has been tangled up in confusion, lawsuits, court hearings, and controversy. Its fate is still uncertain. 

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 for the presidency and was quoted as saying Obama was “not yet ready” for the highest office in the land. Apparently, Biden has changed that opinion.  Many feel the Delaware senator adds depth and experience to the Democratic ticket.

I found out about Obama’s choice last night, while persuing the New York Times website. Shortly thereafter, I spotted a news alert on the Internet from the Associated Press saying Biden is Obama’s choice. So much for the high-tech planning of the Obama campaign.

It just goes to show you that you can’t keep a secret that big for very long.  Obama’s team had planned to make the announcement first by e-mail  and text messages to Democrats and supporters.

 As a Democrat I got an e-mail a few days ago asking me if I want to be on the list of the “first to know” about Obama’s choice for vice-president. You bet. I signed up immediately. Oh well, that’s not the way it went down.

On Thursday, Obama told the media he had made his choice.  Yesterday, Obama was in Chicago reportedly working on his acceptance speech for the convention set to kick-off on Monday, August 25 in Denver.

This morning I received that special e-mail announcement about the selection of Biden. Here it is.

Fronnie –

I have some important news that I want to make official.

I’ve chosen Joe Biden to be my running mate.

Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois — the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago.

I’m excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can’t do this alone. We need your help to keep building this movement for change.

Please let Joe know that you’re glad he’s part of our team. Share your personal welcome note and we’ll make sure he gets it:

http://my.barackobama.com/welcomejoe

Thanks for your support,

Barack

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 Free Press won an auction for his memoir called “Built to Succeed.” The narrative of the book will be built around his eight terrific wins in Beijing, along with anecdotes about his family, coach, and passion for swimming.

“Built to Succeed” is scheduled for release this December with a first printing of 500,000. They’re searching for a co-author to help Phelps make that deadline.  Also, the deal includes a children’s book for 2009.

Phelps plans to be doing more than writing. In a New York Times August 18 article by sportswriter Karen Crouse, Phelps says he wants to raise the profile of his sport. “My whole goal is to change the sport of swimming in a positive way.”

Phelps would like to see swimming be more than an every four-year event. Meanwhile, Phelps sees himself competing in the sport he loves through the 2012 Olympics in London.

More at Publishers Weekly and The New York Times websites.

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 topped the list at number one, followed by Princeton in second and Yale in third.

MIT and Stanford tied for fourth, while Caltech and the University of Pennsylvania tied in sixth. All of the colleges in the top ten have tuition of more than $30 thousand a year. Wow!  Higher education is rarely cheap, now it’s seriously expensive at the top notch universities.

Also, UC Berkeley ranked 21 and UCLA 25 on this list.

Details on the U.S. News & World Report website.

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 of Benjamin Button,” is coming out in December. It stars Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button who is born in his eighties and ages backwards!  Life gets complicated when he falls in love with a young woman.

Fitzgerald’s estate has deals for other projects as well.  Fox reportedly has renegotiated an option for Fitzgerald’s novel, “Tender is the Night.”

Also, “The Pat Hobby Stories” have been optioned. Fitzgerald wrote the collection of 17 short stories about a down-and-out screenwriter trying to break back into show business in 1939 and 1940.

Fitzgerald died after a series of heart attacks in December of 1940, while working on his Hollywood novel, “The Love of the Last Tycoon.” He was only 44.

Fitzgerald is considered one of the great American writers of the 20^th Century.

More details on the Publishers Weekly website.

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 of my favorites because it has the kind of helpful information a writer can really use.  

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 sign of progress. Nonetheless, the filming must go on.

A crew sets up at a hillside home in Burbank to film a commercial spot for VH-1 and Burger King on July 15, 2008.

Photos by FLLewis

Burbank remains a favorite place to shoot for many production companies.  Over at the Burbank Police Department, Norma Brolsma processes film permits and she suggests ” a little bit of everything” is filming in the city right now from commercials to reality programs to other types of TV shows. Not many features, but that is normal for this time of year.

Brolsma says film permits are being issued at about the same rate as last summer during the rush to beat the WGA strike.  In 2007, Burbank issued 36 permits for location shootings in June, 26 in July, and 34 in August.

This year, 27 film permits were handed out in June, 35 in July, and so far 24 in August.

Brolsma expects to be busy issuing permits through November.

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 strong. Then in June, bookstore sales reportedly slipped 7.1%. Overall, bookstore sales for the first half of 2008 were $7.67 billion.

I take some of the blame for the dip in sales. I did not browse bookstores on some of those too hot to be outside days of June, like in the past.  Recently, I did buy some books while attending a writers’ conference. That might balance things out.

Hopefully, the figures for July will be better. It makes a lot of authors nervous when book sales go south.  You start to wonder, if only for a moment or two, if those well-intended, good friends who keep suggesting you forget about the ”writing stuff” and  “get a real job” just might be right. 

Graphic novels along with comic books are the favorite go-to-sources for movies in Hollywood these days. There is serious dough to be made, two examples: comic-turned-film “The Dark Knight” has a domestic gross nearing $500 million and “300″ the movie based on a graphic novel has raked in more than $450 million worldwide since 2006.

So it is no surprise that Warner Bros. and 20^th Century Fox are locked in a legal battle over the rights to the classic graphic novel “Watchmen,” and the film based on it, which is set for release next March.

William Shakespeare 1564-1616 – thought to have written “Julius Caesar” in 1599.

Meanwhile, other studios and production companies continue to snatch up the illustrated stories.  Mandalay Pictures just made a deal for the rights to the Oni Press graphic novel “Julius,” which is described as a contemporary urban crime drama based on William Shakespeare’s play, ”Julius Caesar.”

F.Gary Gray will direct.  His credits include, “The Italian Job” and “The Negotiator.”

Oni Press has at least six other projects based on its publications in various stages of Hollywood development.

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Olympic swimmer Dara Torres won three silver medals, but no gold in Beijing. A great accomplishment for any athlete. Torres is the first U.S. swimmer to compete in five Olympics and the oldest swimmer to win a silver medal in the Games. Still, it’s not all over for the 41-year-old mother of a toddler. Now, Torres is going for the big bucks.

Sports agent Evan Morgenstein says the offers are pouring in for the swimmer. Torres had a number of endorsements before she swam a stroke in Beijing. Also, she has a multi-million dollar two-book deal with Random House’s Broadway Books.

Torres’ first book is an inspirational memoir set for publication next spring.  The second is a fitness guide due out in early 2011.