Let the game begin!

Just tuned in for the last of the pre-game show… Gretchen Wilson and Charlie Daniels!!! I love them both!! And the Black-Eyed Peas are coming soon, after more stupid cellphone, car, and beer commercials. What I wouldn’t give to be kicking up my heels on that field!

Go, Eagles, go.

Come on, guys… One team, one city, one dream!

Sunday Morning scribbling and a website question

Had a good working day yesterday and never made it to the grocery store. Mer and Mike went shopping after dinner and came back with some clothes, a Donato’s pizza, and a movie – Dodgeball. They made me stop working and chill with them. Yes, the movie was stupid. But it was a good stupid. A painful, predictable stupid and it was fun to laugh with them. So it was a good night.

Back to work in a few minutes. I’ve been neck-deep in the American Revolution, comparing interpretations of various historians and trying to understand the events that unfolded both in the context of their own time period, and through our modern lens. It makes my head hurt. It also really pisses me off when different books have different dates for the SAME EXACT THING. Argh!

So today is more of the history stuff, then THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!! Philly has gone nuts, no other way to describe it. I’ll report on that later.

I do have a question for everyone out there – what is not working about my website? I love it (thank you, thank you theoblack), but I keep getting email from kids doing author reports who want information about me. We have a whole section of the site called About Me, but I guess they aren’t seeing it. Any suggestions?

Official SPEAK movie details

Here’s the deal.

They made a movie out of SPEAK. (They = Showtime Cable) It is a low-budget, independent film and I love it. I have loads of details and some photos on my website if you want to peek. I did not write the screenplay, but I think it is a very good adaptation. (It was cool to listen to lines of dialog in the movie that I wrote.) My daughter Stephanie and I visited the set for a few days and had a blast.

The movie (also called SPEAK) premiered at Sundance in 2004. It has since been shown at film festivals across the country and picked up a couple of awards along the way.

Here is the planned release schedule:

1. They’re supposed to air it on the Showtime cable channel this spring or summer.
2. After that, it’s supposed to go to DVD.

I wish that Showtime would move faster because I know a lot of you are anxious to see it. If there were any way I could get this film released tomorrow, I’d do it. In these situations, the author of the book has less influence than the guy who fetches the director’s coffee. The author’s job is to sit in a corner and shut up.

If you want to talk to other fans about the movie, visit the IMDB page (it has a message board). If you want to be an activist and try to get the darn think released sooner, try contacting Showtime. Unfortunately I have no clue how to do this. I’ve been to their website and they seem to have hidden themselves behind high walls of solid granite.

That’s all I know.

After I take Mer to band practice this morning, I have a thrilling trip to the post office planned. The rest of the day will be spent rewriting my historical non-fiction project and answering mail. Many thanks to Mrs. Benson’s class at Jamison Elementary for test-driving the manuscript yesterday. (They let me read it out loud to them then grill them about it.) Hi Alex!!

Many thanks to everybody in the LJ community for making me feel so welcome.

And I still think the Eagles are going to win.

Fly, Eagles, Fly….

….on the road to victory!

This is the All-Eagles post. The boys in Green play in the Superbowl on Sunday and Philadelphia, my adopted hometown, is busting its buttons. People here live, breathe, eat, sleep, and dream Eagles, even if they don’t like football.

Our current slogan is “one team city dream.” Does Boston have a slogan? I think not.

The competitive possibilities are endless.

There is plenty of room for historians to discuss the contributions made by both cities to the American Revolution (another obsession of mine). Which city truly deserves the moniker “Home of Liberty”? Boston had the Tea Party, an occupation by British troops, a battle or two, and a few riots. Philly had all that except for the tea party, which suits us just fine, thanks. We also had the writing and reading of the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congresses and the Constitutional Convention. No contest!

Who has better food? Philly: cheesesteaks, pretzels, cheesesteaks, Tastykakes, scrapple, and cheesesteaks. Boston: beans.

Mascot? Philly: the majestic, soaring eagle. Boston: a patriot. OK, that one’s a toss-up.

Quarterback? Donovan McNabb, all the way. Not only is he a smart, hard-working, disciplined athlete, he went to Syracuse University and he has a nice mom. Tom who?

Beauty, integrity, and people? Boston is a nice place, no argument there. It is a Hub of the Universe of Enlightenment, transcending expectations for refinement in an urban setting. But Philly is real. Real people. Real jobs. Real arguments. Real problems. Real solutions. This city is a family that wears its heart on our sleeves. Yo, you got a problem with that?

Enough foaming at the mouth for one day. I really am going to write today…

…and dream of victory!

PS – Book/writing stuff tomorrow, I promise.