"Crown on the Ground" by Sleigh Bells

Ever since I saw Sophia Coppola's film The Bling Ring at the Castro Theatre a few months back, I've been obsessed with its theme song, "Crown on the Ground," by Sleigh Bells.




The film is based on true crimes committed in Los Angeles by teenagers obsessed with celebrities and luxury brands.

The Gorgeous Project

Los Angeles-based chanteuse, Camille Towe, recently brought to my attention The Gorgeous Project, which is a book project featuring some of today's hottest LGBTQ celebrity artists and performers, including Candis Cayne, Armen Ra, Leganja Estranja, Delta Work, Tammie Brown and Jimmy James.

Are You Gorgeous? by The Gorgeous Project

The Gorgeous Project is raising the money needed to complete the principal photography production of the book.

Armen Ra by The Gorgeous Project

The iconic portraits are by photographer, Rob Lebow, who has nearly a quarter century's worth of professional experience shooting commercial advertising and lifestyle portraiture. He has photographed campaigns for such clients as The Weinstein Company, 20th Century Fox Television and HBO.

Cake Moss by The Gorgeous Project

The book's creative director is Masha Kupets, both a fine artist and an award-winning commercial designer, who has worked with Bravo, HBO, FX and The Sundance Channel. She is the founder of Plastic PALMTREE, Inc. She also has extensive knowledge of book production and will supervise the design and printing process of the book.

Lebow and Kupets say their intention with The Gorgeous Project is to empower artists and audiences alike, questioning mainstream definitions of gender and standard visual expectations with every photograph.

Rob Lebow, Masha Kupets and Gang by The Gorgeous Project

The book's release is scheduled for early 2014 and will coincide with a gallery exhibition in Los Angeles. A portion of the proceeds from that event will benefit LGBTQ youth organizations.

I especially like that there are interviews accompanying the portraits of many of the artists and performers. I look forward to reading their personal stories while enjoying their gorgeous portraits.

Ernie Omega by The Gorgeous Project

To learn more about this project, connect with them on Facebook.

Avril Lavigne on the Cover of Volume 13 of 360 Magazine

I am thrilled Avril Lavigne is on the cover of Volume 13 of 360 Magazine now available on Blurb and Magzter.

Avril sits down with us and discusses the making of her latest, self-titled album, which is available for purchase on iTunes. She also reveals how the massive success of her first album affected her as an artist and person.

The videos for her new songs, "Let Me Go" (featuring Chad Kroeger) and "Rock N Roll," are proving to be hits.

"Fiction" by The xx

"Fiction" by The xx has been stuck in my head for the last several days.

The video reminds me of ones made in the 1980's by bands like Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark.

VERONICA MARS' Kristen Bell and Me

If you're a regular reader of this blog, then you know I'm a screenwriter who loves to write stories with strong, smart female leads, and that I'm obsessed with films and television shows featuring such great characters.

So, it's no surprise I nearly fell out of my chair yesterday when Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell tweeted me.

I had just tweeted a photograph of me sporting a t-shirt sent to me for supporting Invisible Children - which I hope you will check out if you don't already know about this important non-profit.

Conquering Hollywood: The Screenwriter's Blueprint for Career Success by Gary W. Goldstein

I've been screenwriting for more than ten years, during which time I've certainly come across a plethora of websites, books and seminars claiming they can teach me "the craft" and "how to hone my talent."

So, I took notice when Gary W. Goldstein tweeted me earlier this year that he was launching a Kickstarter campaign to write a very different sort of book for screenwriters.

I donated to the campaign.

When I finished the book, I had no doubt I'd invested in my future.

Goldstein is a Hollywood film producer and manager for screenwriters. Among his films are Pretty Woman, Under Siege and The Mothman Prophecies. His projects have grossed more than a billion dollars worldwide.

His book is called Conquering Hollywood: The Screenwriter's Blueprint for Career Success and is available as an e-book, paperback and audio book at Amazon.

Conquering Hollywood is a practical guide for new and established screenwriters who want to take control of their careers and, ultimately, become financially successful as writers. It is written by a professional who certainly knows the business. Goldstein's book makes it clear there is no secret handshake or magic trick to success in Hollywood. The table of contents in both book versions makes it easy to jump to the step-by-step directions to succeed in the daily business of being a screenwriter.

After having read the book, I enjoy listening to the audio book, while blogging or tweeting about my writing projects. Goldstein talking in my ear reminds me which steps I've already taken toward controlling my career and which ones still require my attention.

There are lots of excellent books that teach screenwriting. I tell fellow writers to stick with the ones that resonate with them.

But every writer who wants his writing to go from a hobby to a professional career needs to read and put into practice the advice given by Goldstein in his book Conquering Hollywood: The Screenwriter's Blueprint for Career Success.

"Stay" by Steve Grand

Steve Grand premiered his new single and music video, "Stay," an hour or so ago.

I have been playing the video over and over ever since.





You can purchase both versions of the single at iTunes.

The Canyons

Producer Braxton Pope (The Source Family) and director Paul Schrader (American Gigolo, Raging Bull) wisely selected Lindsay Lohan and porn-star James Deen to play the leads in The Canyons, written by Bret Easton Ellis (Less Than Zero, American Psycho).

Months before the film simultaneously debuted in theaters and on video on demand (VOD), the media was tripping over itself to report the supposed on-set conflict between its stars, to lament with Schadenfreude-like passion Lohan's long, often court-ordered road to sobriety, and to discourse with titillated unease Deen's prolific work in the adult entertainment industry.

Of course, all of this was excellent publicity for the film, which has nothing to do with the actors' private lives or the commercial porn industry.

The Canyons is about what happens to people when they hand over control of their lives to others. The opening montage of abandoned movie houses underscores this theme: the more frequently studios make bad movies, the less revenue movie houses make, with artistic and financial bankruptcy the inevitable outcome.

My favorite moment in the film occurs in the first scene, when all but the single character who has yet to hand over the reigns of her life to another person act like caged animals arranged around a restaurant table. I was astonished when even the camera swooped away to race over the restaurant's bar, desperate for the waitress to return with the check and set the captives free, if only momentarily.

The Canyons is written by Ellis, so you know things do not end well. Most of the characters are entangled in Deen's character's machinations. It is foreboding that, in a city with a population of 3.8 million, he lives in isolation in a modern marvel of a house shipwrecked against a Malibu canyon wall.




I watched The Canyons twice on VOD its opening weekend. The helplessness, frustration and rage of its characters have stayed with me. Lohan's performance once more leaves no doubt she is the greatest actress of her generation. Deen displays real acting chops as a spoiled control freak writhing under the thumb of his father. Cinematographer John DeFazi brings to life this dystopic world.

Schrader and Ellis' collaboration left me wondering what happens next to the characters populating The Canyons: one apparently gets away with a senseless act of violence; while another, who had hitherto allowed others to control him, now adroitly manipulates another, but to what purpose?

Fans of Ellis' work know his stories link together in unexpected ways. I look forward to the next installment.

You can purchase The Canyons at iTunes.

Mark Tyler

I am happy I recently stumbled upon Mark Tyler on Twitter. I really enjoy his songs and voice.

You can learn more about him at his website, watch his YouTube playlist and purchase his album "Requiem of a Broken Heart" at iTunes.

I play his album on repeat while working at home.

Robbie Rogers and the Quarry

I am petrified of heights, but more than suspect openly gay soccer player Robbie Rogers could talk me into cliff jumping.