North to Ensenada
…for reasons to do with friendship and decision-reversal-syndrome the reluctant mariner had been junketed in by plane and bus to become part of one of sailings least desirable passages—
Read More North to EnsenadaSwilling Ale with Titans of the Sailing Sea
What is to know about Rob is that he is a crafty fella’, easy to laughter, cautiously friendly, fearless of the problems that mortal enemy of happy sailing mud may wreak upon a boat stuck in San Pablo Harbor’s claggy bottom.
Read More Swilling Ale with Titans of the Sailing SeaBaja Bash 2024
Starlink— satelitte connectivity will provide you with access to the latest and greatest weather information twenty-four-seven. That piece of equipment is worth its weight in Tecate, mescal and your finest bikini briefs.
Read More Baja Bash 2024Wings of the Laysan Albatross
On wing skimming the sea I recognized the tell-tale shape of an albatross.
Read More Wings of the Laysan AlbatrossRomp Along the Baja Coast
The sailor’s holy trinity— the sun, wind and sea. A sailboat can go if you know how to feed her wind. A destination can be a joy to reach for. You’ll need to consider the hidden forces working to challenge your bows aim. The direction of the wind is one force and invisible but tangible […]
Read More Romp Along the Baja CoastBig Sur by Air and Sea
California’s population is big and some of our most iconic tourist destinations are too small.
Read More Big Sur by Air and SeaI Think We’re Going to Need a Bigger Boat—
A calm last day of February here in California after a parade of storms battered the state. To the south from the Bay Area, I drove in the stormy aftermath to Santa Barbara earlier this month. Roads were open. In the Salinas Valley the fields were still flooded. I planned my stop to camp and […]
Read More I Think We’re Going to Need a Bigger Boat—Subtropical Cyclones for You and Me
I asked the store clerk how he survived the storm. “Power was out for three days. Three trees fell and blocked our access to the party. Drove up to Livermore from San Luis Obispo. We should have stayed home.” Sunday’s hard hitting bomb cyclone was reprising its 2023 role when last year a similarly intense […]
Read More Subtropical Cyclones for You and Mepineapple express—
This weekends atmospheric river event continues to unfold. I travel to Santa Barbara in two days, hoping roads are dry, rivers have receded and the mud has been cleaned up. This morning here in Northern California we have a textbook example of what is becoming the new normal, an atmospheric river fueled storm. If you look […]
Read More pineapple express—Whitewashed Green Desert
Near one half of California’s Imperial Valley water is used to grow alfalfa. Much of this crop is used to support the regions dairy operations, what isn’t shipped to the regions milk producers is exported to foreign markets. Let’s get this said plain and simple. Alfalfa is a water intensive crop, perhaps the most water […]
Read More Whitewashed Green DesertConversation with Greta Gerwig
I arrived in time to take in the Palm Springs Film Festival’s first offering, the screening of Barbi and then after a conversation with the film’s director. The film was screened at Palm Springs High School. Nice auditorium maybe seats 800. We weren’t sold out, but it was nearly so. Here is a pro tip […]
Read More Conversation with Greta Gerwigbackstage 2024
—our fetching bossa nova singer remains convinced that there is only one man that will have his way with her and that is the man she plans to have a family with— that’s funny right
Read More backstage 2024physical comedy
If you are seated at your writing desk it may seem that the first task to attend to is bringing the words of your characters to life on the page. Often the story unfolds by what the characters say, much less attention is given to how a character moves, what they are wearing, even the […]
Read More physical comedymuscle memory movie
A good few words are nice, a sharp eye catching visual is priceless.
Read More muscle memory movielove with road closures
Men are just that one subway stop away from a more fully realized understanding of love.
Read More love with road closuresPaul’s Slide Changes Everything
To the north near Carmel is Malpaso Creek and to the south near San Simeon is San Capoforo Creek, between the two is Big Sur. Erupting out of the Pacific Ocean rise the Santa Lucia Mountains. The Coast Highway rises and falls here, its winding path cuts through the steep rock and rubble, the highway […]
Read More Paul’s Slide Changes EverythingRoad Closure Landslide Barricades
Truth as told by a highway traffic control worker turns out to be worth its weight in barricades. Our trip north from Morro Bay up the Coast Highway would terminate 50 miles from our start at Limekiln State Park. This is where we meet the grizzled veteran of many a highway closures. Born in Bakersfield […]
Read More Road Closure Landslide BarricadesCliffhanger
We drive to camp south of Big Sur. We’ll head over to Death Valley for two days, then to Grapevine Canyon Petroglyphs. This last stop isn’t too far from Searchlight, Nevada where the pugilistic Harry Reid got his first haircut and fistfight. I’m still plotting out the next screenplay— Cliffhanger— that’s a working title of […]
Read More CliffhangerBlame it on the Bossa Nova
Key decision in my run up to the next screenplay is selecting the music tracks. Even if things all get tossed out, I like building a file of songs that catch the flavor. Bossa is of course Brazilian built for yearning, heartbreak and pathos. You want to dance you’ll play a samba. Bye, Bye […]
Read More Blame it on the Bossa NovaWhat the World Needs Now—
I’ll never forget seeing West Side Story for the first time. Until that moment I had thought the American musical could never accommodate what Bernstein, Sondheim and Jerome Robbins would stage for audiences. West Side Story’s impact was like St Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band, 2001 A Space Odyssey—these are not insignificant moments, we don’t […]
Read More What the World Needs Now—Maestro—
Capturing Leonard Bernstein’s life would revolve around the story of his extraordinary marriage to Felicity— Felicia Montealegre Bernstein—
Read More Maestro—Mill Valley Film Festival
May-December screenwriter Samy Burke was a terrific post screening conversation at the after screening party.
Read More Mill Valley Film FestivalGiant Sequoias script inspiration
I don’t have to use my imagination at all. The story of our climate emergency is volunteered by people I meet while I travel near and far.
Read More Giant Sequoias script inspirationhobbs water rescue
wells can be so overused as to trigger a complete collapse of the aquifer, the result renders a desert region like Arizona utterly uninhabitable.
Read More hobbs water rescueForeign interference
My doctor believes I have the nerve to tell it like it is— silly me.
Read More Foreign interferencebike ride bijou
Occupational hazards abound for the writer. Sitting at a desk all day, incessant use of reading glasses, fighting off the flurry of notifications our digital overlords have embedded on our phones, iPads, and desktop computers. Exercise patterns have changed, there is now a daily bike ride to account for. I’m averaging 100 miles a week, […]
Read More bike ride bijouMicrochipped Pet Geolocation Giveaway
We all know about the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security and of then the more familiar Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation. Reading today’s Financial Times the sage reporting of Ed Luce by way of a feature story Lunch with the FT-Christo Grozev spills the spy craft beans. […]
Read More Microchipped Pet Geolocation Giveawaybarbie goes BAZILLION—
For my money Dunkirk is Christopher Nolan’s apex directorial moment. His impulsiveness reminds me of the challenges Robin Williams presented when trying to contain the great performers tendency to be let loose and run unbridled. Nolan isn’t as frenetic; he doesn’t fly off on some stream of consciousness riff, his challenge is the same as […]
Read More barbie goes BAZILLION—groundwater giveaway caper
There are a lot of theories about how this deal got made, but nobody that knows is talking, most of the players in what has been characterized as a sweetheart deal have since left the Land Department.
Read More groundwater giveaway caperscript coverage
See you on the other side of Independence Day, we can get to work on the campaign to oust the gay haters who have lied their way onto our nation’s highest court—
Read More script coverage60 Word pitch
Flatiron’s two best pilots are both Black American women, both skilled pilots, there is Major Emma Bezel and Lieutenant Colonel Dovey Doverspike.
Read More 60 Word pitchclimate change comedy
I want our existential crisis to be funny, I want humanity to win, and I want the story to have a glorious life extending ending. I hope that’s not asking too much—
Read More climate change comedyfinish the line
Revisions to the screenplay continue at a measured pace. I unpacked a lengthy exchange between two characters, that helped with flow. I’m still miserable about trying to hide a few key facts without bringing the narrative to a grinding halt. The manuscript is in Word on my computer and iPad, I can read while I’m […]
Read More finish the lineSausage Along the Potomac
Principled people can disagree about a lot of things, casting a vote not to raise the debt ceiling is not one of them. I don’t like the deal, but I don’t like defaulting on the national debt worse. Bernie, Warren and AOC are not on the same principled page over the debt and think they’ve […]
Read More Sausage Along the PotomacFalling Water/Crumbling Sea Cliffs
Our nearest reservoirs are full to the brim. Our hillsides are slathered in wildflowers.
Read More Falling Water/Crumbling Sea CliffsColorado River Agreement
A lot can happen in the next three years the most important perhaps is that if Biden wins reelection negotiations in 2026 can’t harm the career of a lame-duck President.
Read More Colorado River AgreementSaguaro Bloom
It’s there somewhere behind a gate with a guard standing at a barricade that military undercover agents are trained.
Read More Saguaro BloomPlot as Epiphany—
Coming up with plans—
Read More Plot as Epiphany—Let’s Talk City Buildouts—
If Phoenix is a hot mess of a beast, Gilbert is the sizzling distant unknown reptile nobody has ever heard of. I’d come in from the south, drove through Coolidge, then finally the long straight boulevard into downtown, the very beating heart of this anonymous gargantuan valley town.. Three lanes in each direction for 20 […]
Read More Let’s Talk City Buildouts—Nine Arizona Touchstones
Nearing late afternoon in Tempe, late April touching 91 degrees F, waiting to pickup Eileen coming in from Denver. Crow, a street performing friend lives in Tucson. After blueberry pancakes this morning drove to his place for coffee before heading north. Married to a Korean wife, she’s visiting family and is away, when she returns […]
Read More Nine Arizona TouchstonesCasey’s Gift
Rivers that originate in Arizona are few, the Verde River begins its journey up in the mountains in northwest corner of Yavapai County. Once upon a time the river’s water was counted as one of the tributaries to the Colorado River. In modern times every drop remains here in the state and is relied upon […]
Read More Casey’s GiftCollecting Surprise
Traveling can be inconvenient. Entering Arizona was a longer jump, followed by a series of shorter jumps from town to town. Arriving at each place there is a setting, a building, people and their things. This is a picture of just one object in a home filled with thousands upon thousands of carefully collected objects […]
Read More Collecting SurpriseHouse on the Verde River
First time I came out from San Francisco for Casey’s 60th birthday. I had not ever been to a desert home built on the banks of a river. The home is surrounded by a is a mix of mesquite, cottonwoods and sycamore trees. Last night I saw a scarlet tanager. Morning we drank coffee watching […]
Read More House on the Verde RiverHow Film Fly’s—
Once I finish this script, I’ll start another.
Read More How Film Fly’s—Mercy Hot Springs—
Here at Mercy Hot Springs, the proprietors have solved the mystery of all great conundrums— to wear a bathing suit or not to wear a bathing suit.
Read More Mercy Hot Springs—Missing and Unbound by the FODMAP
I am human and there is so much I want and so little strength in my character to fully control these profound things called cravings—
Read More Missing and Unbound by the FODMAPPlans for Hope Eternal
—for every 10 new battery electric vehicles in each square mile there is a 3-5% decrease in asthma attacks—
Read More Plans for Hope EternalOn Choosing Mudflap’s—
The Kid’s Super Special Guy flew south, he had come this way to get a 1995 Toyota pickup truck and deliver it to Seattle. Never mind the arctic blast, the closed highways, the barely open chains only interstate, he’d hole up in a motel and wait for the all clear signal, his goal was simple […]
Read More On Choosing Mudflap’s—Spirit’s New Home
Setting sail destination unknown—
Read More Spirit’s New HomeBurt Bacharach Schools the Kid
None was a bigger influencer and favorite of the Kid’s than Burt Bacharach. I Say a Little Prayer indeed
Read More Burt Bacharach Schools the KidTaking Your Identity With You
That’s the cheese, you’re the mouse and the trap is the host—
Read More Taking Your Identity With YouCapitol Hill Dreamer
—if you lived her you wouldn’t have to leave here, it has everything you would want or need. That’s how it stands—
Read More Capitol Hill DreamerTantrums of the Water Czar’s
—not you and not nobody may ever question how they use the nation’s resources—
Read More Tantrums of the Water Czar’sBeyond Imagination/All Too Real
The Colorado River and her water is as big a problem as problem’s get—
Read More Beyond Imagination/All Too RealDad Visit— Run Everybody Run
I was ambivalent over becoming a father, my mother passing away at 56 changed my mind.
Read More Dad Visit— Run Everybody RunWe’re All Bakersfield Now
Pond scum it is believed will see a meteoric rise in its popularity.
Read More We’re All Bakersfield NowAtmospheric River Blues
Wildfire’s are as predictable now as atmospheric river’s and who ever heard of those atmospheric demons until now—
Read More Atmospheric River BluesArizona’s Water Grabbers—
You’ll put in a water well, build out a septic system, put up a place to call home and you are set to live a life rife with rattlesnakes, scorpions and disaffected Kari Lake sympathizers.
Read More Arizona’s Water Grabbers—Limantour Beach to Celebrate Life
One gull laughed, another cried, a young one begged.
Read More Limantour Beach to Celebrate LifeAlmost There— The After Times
Arizona and Alberta are overheated frozen opposites—
Read More Almost There— The After TimesCaesars Palace Water Follies
I’ve crunched the numbers, counted bodies, estimated river flow percentages and had a fair number of Prickly pear cactus margaritas preparing highly accurate projections —
Read More Caesars Palace Water FolliesProletariat’s Rejuvenation—
The global proletariat thrill meter is pegged at infinite— I told you so. Tesla’s stock has fallen from $384 a share to a close of $156 per today. It turns out the richest man in the world is no longer the richest man in the world. Trolling is misunderstood. Behaving like a privileged, adolescent, juvenile, white supremacist isn’t […]
Read More Proletariat’s Rejuvenation—Emergency on the Wasatch
The Salt Lake City Tribune posted a water story (see it here) that straightened my back and got my attention. The story is well researched, we learn there are 10,000 family hay-growing operations in Utah, that the crop market value is $500 million, and one-third of the crop is sent overseas. Profits in Utah’s alfalfa […]
Read More Emergency on the WasatchJohnson’s Johnson
n terms of how many Johnsons away from tragedy, and let’s be generous now, on average say there are two Johnson’s for every foot of water, we are just 276 Johnson’s away from a climate catastrophe of a kind the modern world has never experienced.
Read More Johnson’s JohnsonTimeline of the Bagatelle
The madness of the new Twitter owner, Google’s downturn, Facebook’s fated decline is proving to be game changing,
Read More Timeline of the BagatelleDiablo Canyon Shutdown Scuttled for Now
Renewable energy is the low-cost leader, end of story, stop pretending.
Read More Diablo Canyon Shutdown Scuttled for NowCry Me a River
Did I mention instant gratification seems to be almost as popular as smartphones—?
Read More Cry Me a RiverThe Vegan Deli & Butcher Shop
Maciel’s New out of this World butcher shop is a three-alarm fire wrapped in mustard— the pickle is free— the fascination is grand slam.
Read More The Vegan Deli & Butcher ShopTwo Harbors Via Hite Marina
What comes next is unthinkable, but that is what is on offer, a crisis of such magnitude it blows our minds.
Read More Two Harbors Via Hite MarinaBig Drought Little Time
Lake Powell was never a good idea—
Read More Big Drought Little TimeReporting from the American West
And that my friends, that’s why covering this beat will take your breath, spare ink and reams of paper away. This story is that big!
Read More Reporting from the American WestEnergy Transition Gaining Traction
Moore’s Law is our friend.
Read More Energy Transition Gaining TractionColorado River Basin Blues
And that’s why I want you to forget about alfalfa and start to imagine swimming pools. Imagine millions of swimming pools full of water getting shipped overseas…
Read More Colorado River Basin BluesCan Kicking Over— Hard Part is Here
Half-truth tellers, braggarts, and exaggerators are stealing water from Americans. Take the executive director of this outfit called the Agribusiness and Water Council of Arizona. With millions of acres farmed in Arizona less than half is dedicated to the food that ends up directly on our dinner plate while a whole lot more of the […]
Read More Can Kicking Over— Hard Part is HereNevada Lithium Miner Days
Nevada can be tough as a stubborn burro, even the good souls have to fend off the demon temptation to go bad.
Read More Nevada Lithium Miner DaysTight as a Tick Dry as a Bone
If you are living in San Francisco, don’t have a car, rent an apartment, don’t have a garden, haven’t got out on a road trip, then it is likely the 20-year drought gripping the American West may well have gone unnoticed. If on the other hand you are Max Gomberg the Director over at the […]
Read More Tight as a Tick Dry as a BoneThe Living Breathing Heart of Summer
rumor has it that the bikini and martini are equally intoxicating—
Read More The Living Breathing Heart of SummerDusty Days on the Klamath
North of Yreka the Klamath River passes beneath Interstate 5 while flowing west through the Siskiyou’s to the Pacific Ocean. Over the last two decades the megadrought has pummeled the region. For 13 of the last 20 years the governors of Oregon have declared a drought emergency east of where I am standing in the […]
Read More Dusty Days on the KlamathRehearsals with Jennifer Lawrence
—what we can pin down and know for certain is written down on a short list—
Read More Rehearsals with Jennifer LawrenceJerry Hall Dumps Murdoch
Go figure it’s Jerry Hall dumping Rupert Murdoch that has finally kicked this miserable news baron of a man to the curb.
Read More Jerry Hall Dumps MurdochCanada Day Celebration—Congratulations
To our friends to the north a very happy day of celebrations—
Read More Canada Day Celebration—CongratulationsCall for a General Strike
The ruins of Chaco Canyon give us a glimpse into the life of one of America’s earliest civilizations. There is evidence the first people prevailed as a culture and economy for 1000 years, the tribes of the desert southwest of Arizona and New Mexico thrived here. After years of abundant rain our first people were […]
Read More Call for a General StrikeVet Showmen Pay Lip Service
Trip to Kona has been a bit of a tale. A carrying cart failed just before coming over to the islands resulting in a propane tank landing square on my big toe. That kind of changed the last two weeks. An urgent care doctor glued the gash back together slapped me on the butt and […]
Read More Vet Showmen Pay Lip ServiceNo Service Might Be Best
if we are all going to be upset why not get the whole nation pissed off all at once, get it over with, we can get on with trying to preserve democracy
Read More No Service Might Be BestThe Garden Bench
Cork oak trees come from the Iberian Peninsula (so does the loyal but obstinate donkey); it is estimated that there are perhaps as many as 5000 cork oaks in California.
Read More The Garden BenchTry a Little Tenderness
Treating young readers to a juggling show at the local library is one way to motivate the new citizens. These humble institutions are the backbone to our country.
Read More Try a Little TendernessLost Soul Nation—
Equal protection under the law is for billionaires. The death penalty is for those people, not your people.
Read More Lost Soul Nation—Northwest Natural Wine Night
As dinner party’s go this one turned out to be out of this world. The mix of characters worked swell, the invited included both curveballs and straight shooters— this the odd woven with the even. There was even an expectational tardy arrival of our party’s Hickey Boggs from The Iceman Cometh along with his second […]
Read More Northwest Natural Wine NightSeattle’s Wet Spring
Needing a dose of the kid I hopped a flight on Southwest from Oakland to Seattle for the weekend. Here’s her new condo on Capitol Hill. Never done but always organized. This is not something she got from her dad. Last night we ate at Blotto. Lucky for me they had vegan pizza. Joint was […]
Read More Seattle’s Wet SpringBeauty’s Way— Among the First People
There is every reason to believe that today, that a runaway and lawless United States government could attack again, that there still is a mania running rampant among the minds of too many men.
Read More Beauty’s Way— Among the First PeopleHeart and Home
the three of us can knock a building down with laughter—
Read More Heart and HomeSilver City Shuffle
Great Basin character sketch
Read More Silver City ShuffleSpartan Shave Kit—Suitcase Efficiencies
Rolling east next week— it’s the road and it’s out there waiting mile after mile to be devoured. Over the years I’ve kept in touch with people, some are friend’s others are business contacts. If I had not been so frequently back to one place or another it might have not been practical to cast […]
Read More Spartan Shave Kit—Suitcase EfficienciesLoosening the Blithering Grip
Had I bent to my other’s will, I would have been laughed out of the pool hall where I played for sport and small change.
Read More Loosening the Blithering GripPassword for Fix is Yardwork
The megadrought we are suffering turns out to be the perfect civilization threatening weather for my new companion— Montara manzanita—
Read More Password for Fix is YardworkSoul with a Chaser of Wind
I tossed a life preserver to my foundering soul and signed up for sailing lessons.
Read More Soul with a Chaser of WindGratitude Sails South
Sailing vessel Gratitude was underway with three crew by fifteen hundred hours on March 25th. In the first hours the Hylas 46 motored westbound with the ebbing tide toward the Golden Gate Bridge. An overcast sky began to open up and beyond on the Pacific Ocean there appeared the telling detail of a faint blue […]
Read More Gratitude Sails SouthHell on Wheels
Here in these days of global chaos, where some runt punk tyrant has taken to threatening nuclear conflagration,
Read More Hell on WheelsGuys and Falls
We are hopeful creatures, we are eager for the next good chapter and ready to forget this lousy last one.
Read More Guys and FallsSouth Beach Harbor
Somewhere in all this was the planning to sail to Avalon, to spend the summer bumming around harbor to harbor up and down the California coast.
Read More South Beach HarborTexas in Monochromatic Glory
…loneliness is affirmed here, it is a pristine view, near the famous portal to oblivion.
Read More Texas in Monochromatic GloryFree Little Banned Book Library
All of us have discovered Little Free Library’s. We have plenty in my quaint leafy hamlet.
Read More Free Little Banned Book LibraryGod’s Deli Tray of Delights
Like for example using marijuana, taking mushrooms, having a martini─ these are common sacraments─
Read More God’s Deli Tray of DelightsMuch Ado rewrite
Writing here on the blog has been slower as the pace of screenwriting has seized the waking hours of my day. You’ll forgive the glazed over eyes, the seeming inexplicable delving into rabbit holes, the burden of the finite clock exacts its price and works to contain the prolific. I have been putting ukulele chords […]
Read More Much Ado rewrite