(voicemail)
"Elizabeth, I can't believe we polished off two bottles of wine last night." -my tipsy friend Bill who doesn't realize that I was drinking water.

positives & negatives

Did you ever notice that your least favorite article of clothing is always the first to fall? I believe the floor of the Laundromat is a magnet for your worst laundry. Without fail, whenever I'm switching from the washer to the dryer or from the dryer to the folding table, I always drop an article of clothing and it's usually something like my oldest sock, the one that will never again look clean no matter how much bleach it soaks in, you know the one that was meant to be thrown out a year ago but because you have the pair...it stays.

Understanding that nobody actually sees the sock hit the floor, and if someone did see, they would care less, but for some reason I pick up the sock as fast as humanly possible and jab it in the middle of my folded pile.

Then I become embarrassed for no reason and think to myself "I should have thrown that out long ago", as if I need to justify this to myself. Maybe it could be that I'm subconsciously reminded of the things my mother used to say to me as child, "always wear clean underwear because you never know, you may end up in the hospital and you'll be pretty embarrassed if the 'young' doctors see you in dirty underwear."

(it's the same idea)

But just once I'd love for my very new, very cool bra to fall and I could enjoy a moment of sheer pride in the Laundromat.

Don't get me wrong, the positives of laundry day definitely outweigh the negatives. I’ve always found the Laundromat very therapeutic...maybe it's the gentle heat combined with the scent of fabric softener?

Not to mention, you’re surrounded by guys who share an interest in clean underwear and god knows how often that happens in NY.

Getting in on Wednesday, the 19th.before most was the best decision.

Leaving the insanely cold, 200 degrees below, add the wind chill factor and it must have been 300 degrees below New York City to fly West into what feels like a tropical island surrounded by beautiful snow covered mountains was amazing.

Able to rest, take care of the schedules, relax, chill, take advantage of 16-hour long vacation in Park City before the masses arrived was a beautiful thing.

Since then it's been smooth sailing, bumping into friend after friend etc... etc...

I recommend this game plan, which by all means was not planned, for everyone year after year.

"A NASA spacecraft - Deep Impact - blasted off on a mission to smash a hole in a comet."

Is it possible the rocket scientists in Cape Canaveral have a sense of humor?

What will they name their next spacecraft...'Mary Does Mars'?

This week has been devoted to Stage One and pain. Actually, Stage One is not a pain, my mouth is a pain. The far upper right hand corner of my mouth has been quite troublesome and my right cheek is doing a lovely job impersonating Marlon Brando in the Godfather. I have a feeling I’ll be spending some quality time with my dentist on Saturday. It’ll be my first time getting wisdom pulled..wait don’t you need wisdom in order to get rid of it?

Wonderful, now I’m shit out of luck.

Okay back to Stage One, I’ll start from the beginning.

Politics and religion are not one and the same.

They don't teach religion is public schools, why do people confuse them?
Why are moral issues important to the bible belt?
Maybe we should officially separate the country into smaller countries and elect separate presidents?

Hillary Clinton 2008!

"I will never have to be a first-time director ever again," Nicole Kassell (writer/ director of The Woodsman)

"Younger people in the left are pro-sex right now anyway. So we're using sex in new, creative ways," says activist Nathan Martin.

This summer, Martin's artist-activist collective, the Carbon Defense League, launched Fthevote.com, a campaign to defeat George Bush by offering sex to Republicans who promise to abstain from voting in the election. Fthevote is based on a simple premise touted on its web site "Let's face facts. Liberals are better-looking, sexier and more fun in bed."

"As an activist, you find ways to protest that the system can't deal with," says Martin. "You throw a brick through a window, and they immediately classify you as an angry radical. You offer to fuck them, and they're nor sure what to do."

(and so it goes)

Fthevote.com - http://www.fthevote.com/about.php

The folks over at Patriotic Punchables have created a line of Republican punching balloons.

Talk about a creative campaign!

The balloons are made to look like Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft and GW himself. The inflatable Bush is not subtle: he's clutching a tank in his right hand and to-do list in his left hand which includes checked boxes for "attack civil liberties, deceive american people, give rich friends more $".

The Bush Bop is in amongst other creative campaign products such as the "Wipe your Tush with Bush" toilet paper.

Bush Bop! - http://www.bushbop.com/

This summer has been like no other with such pleasant weather, almost like L.A. and the streets have never been so clean, probably similar to Seattle.

When I think about an average summer in NYC, the first thing which comes to mind is riding the subways, standing on the 100+ degree platforms, riding in cars with no air conditioning and my favorite...being surrounded by all sorts of body odor.

Prior to this summer when traveling by foot, one is usually accompanied by stinky sidewalks drenched with the lovely scent of Le Summer de Garbage, and of course the continuous "drought situation". Due to the shortage one should be recycling H2O by using one pot of water for cleansing, cooking and drinking.

Not to mention, the fire hydrants being used for cooling off by soaking people in the streets.

Although, I've only been soaked by 4ft to 6ft street-waves while hanging-ten on a sidewalk waiting for a light to change in the pouring rain.

During the average NYC summer, there's always the one friend who comes up with the brilliant idea of attending the Bryant Park Summer Film Series...hell no, I'm sticking with the freezing cold art houses...even if they are always sold out. The outdoor events on the piers are nice with steady breezes blowing in from the ocean via the Hudson River, even though the breezes can be a bit warm at times, a breeze is still a breeze.

In fact, I can't remember so many restaurants providing outdoor seating.

Last summer we were keeping track of 'restaurants with the best air conditioning' and The Crooked Tree, a tiny crepes place with two enormous sized air conditioners was by far the coolest.

The summers can be unbearably hot but still one of my favorite past times is at the end of the day when returning home to an overheated tiny apartment which never seems to reach a comfortable temperature, therefore being subjected to "the stoop" to help survive the heat.

Time spent on a stoop seems to transform a hot night into a beautiful summer evening by; providing interesting conversations, the only time of year to sit down with neighbors (unless you have a co-op), relaxation, entertainment, catching up on books and moments thinking "I wouldn't rather be anywhere else right now".

The heat is what brings everyone out. Come September the cool breeze begins to blow the "time is of the essence" way of life back into high gear, and the neighborly conversations resume until the following summer.

With the pleasant weather this summer, I recently realized that I hadn't spent any time on the stoop and I have yet to find out which color Ken in #13 decided to paint his bathroom.

The clock is ticking leaving about a month left to enjoy some quality stoop time.

I received an email today from one of the local political organizations which read

"You may use these images as you see fit. The silver plated and gold plated coins do exist, I just sent a silver coin to John Kerry. Flood these images in NYC to protest the Republicans."

Who am I to turn away such a request?

While on the subject...the short animation This Land is My Land is hiarious - http://www.jibjab.com/

Another thing, now there are at least 160 more organizations which are protesting the convention.

My outlook regarding the RNC being held here in New York City has defintely changed after seeing how many people are now involved and excited about the direction of this country and the future of the people.

I was always envious of the 60's, it was such a critical time in history and it must have been thrilling to play a part in changing history for the better.

Without knowing the final outcome, the surrounding energy gives some insight to what drew the better part of the country together 30 years ago.

But if everyone continues to work for the next few months,

we'll know that we're capable of winning our own freedom.

Finally had an opportunity to look at the pictures from July 4th, looking at these photographs brought back foggy memories from previous years.

One of our fun family traditions of July 4th weekend is when "the adults/ our parents" bring out the annual lemon drop shots, line up the shots with "the kids" (us, the offspring) and they pour round after round of shots as both kids and parents throw them back one after another and participate in a true bonding experience.

Paul Rachman, of the Slamdance Film Festival, bravely ventured to last year's July 4th weekend with my family. It wasn't Paul's first time, but to come again, he sure was brave. The parents were lining up round after round of shots, when finally Paul and I realized we needed to split, we gave each other a look that spelled out "we need to get out of here or we may not make it." So, we pulled a Houdini and slipped out when nobody was looking.

Remembering when I first came to realize that all families did not have these types of July 4th traditions made me wonder...have our parents been setting a bad example for us?

After thinking about us, the kids, I can say with confidence; we're all still alive, we grow closer to each other with every year and last, both kids and parents alike are some of the best people I've ever known. I think it's because of things like these odd traditions we grew up being surrounded by, the traditions were all-inclusive and the parents always understood if couldn't make it to the next round.

Cocktail Hour, July 4th 2004:

my adorable dad

Nearing the end of Cocktail Hour:

Pam, Bill and offspring

Anticipating lemon drop shot time...

JB, Phyllis & their offspring

Rounds of Lemon Drop Shots:

Post Lemon Drop Shots:

my little brother

more offspring

And then there are the parents/ adults:

Bill & Terry

Jackie, Phyllis, Tom & me

Greg

my dancing dad

Jackie

me, my friend Cindy, Murph

Tom

Judy and Donna

Terry

my dad, Jackie and me

Until next year....

This morning I was thinking about where I was when the U.S. initially began striking almost three years ago, this is not a memory that can easily be forgotten.

I was participating in a peace rally on a cool, brisk Sunday afternoon in October. The quiet rally began in Union Square where we listened to a wonderful selection of speakers made up of Nobel Peace Prize Winners and professors. They talked about why world peace is so important and how we can all make a difference.

There were about 30,000 people in attendance and everyone was motivated and looking forward to a long-term commitment and struggle for peace. Unfortunately our long-term commitment only lasted about 1 mile and a half.

As everyone entered into Times Square, we noticed the large three-story high video-tron and saw what looked like lime green confetti falling against a black background.

We watched the screen and looked away as our hearts sank. One minute we were all one unit and the next minute we were confused because our voices hadn't been given a chance.

Were we too late? Were our voices not heard? Did they not care? What about our concerns?

This took place in October of 2001 and at the time we did not have the answers to these questions. It's almost three years later, our voices are louder, our concerns are greater and "they" still don't care.

During the rally, a journalist from The Christian Science Monitor approached me and asked me a few questions. He then asked if I would write my name and email, so he could send me the link to the article.

Remember this was almost three years ago;

A small but vocal minority, however, is not pleased with the US response. At peace rallies in various cities, people have gathered to voice opposition to the strikes. Violence, they say, will breed only more violence, and they are concerned about Afghan casualties. "I strongly believe that there are other ways to resolve conflicts without taking innocent lives," says Elizabeth Carmody, who attended a rally in Times Square Sunday wearing a leather jacket with a pink sticker: "An eye for an eye only leaves the whole world blind."

Here is the rest of the story.

url: The Christian Science Monitor - http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1009/p2s2-uspo.html

On my way to a meeting this morning, I had put some time aside to have a cup of java with mi madre at her place. I turned CNN on and unexpectedly found a live shot of Former President Clinton, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton sitting in the East Room of the White House. I turned up the volume and heard the old familiar voice of George W Bush and realized it wasn't a dream...the nightmare continues.

Glancing at the bottom of the screen, it read they were unveiling the official portraits of our Former President and First Lady for the White House.

Bush continued to introduce Former President Clinton and Senator Rodham Clinton with hokey pokey gibberish which had been written down on a piece of paper and on the teleprompters before him; he spoke about the Clinton's childhoods, when the couple met each other, the Former First Mother and other meaningless information...regarding the unveiling, and ironically skipping over anything pertaining to Clinton's eight year term in the White House.

Incidentally, Former President Clinton's first trip to the White House as a child is more important than any of these issues??

peace in the Middle East, Arms Control, Peace in Bosnia with NATO and installing peacekeepers, peace in Kosovo, nearly 23 million new jobs, moving record deficits to record surplus, protected 60 million acres of heritage forests, saving social security, adopted the most stringent air pollution standards, clean water act, safeguarded national wildlife refuge, created 84 million-acre coral reef ecosystem reserve, blocked harmful offshore oil drilling, act for the right-to-know about chemicals and toxins, expanded recycling of waste materials, the food quality safety act, education, crime, lowest federal spending as a share of the economy...etc...etc...etc...

Then the Former President stepped up to the podium to speak about how it was a great honor and how it was "wonderful to be back in the place we called home for eight years." As he was speaking I was interrupted by my mother who was handing me tissues while patting my back and saying "don't worry, he was a once in a lifetime president."

Listening to Former President Clinton speak while reading the ticker below "Baghdad bomb kills 13 -- 4 British soldiers face Iraq abuse charges," was surprisingly more emotional than I would have thought, especially since similar headlines occur everyday.

Only it was different today, because I was reminded that if our former leader was still in office, I would not be reading these tragic headlines and those 13 people killed by a bomb in Baghdad...those fathers, mothers, sons, daughters would still be alive, as would thousands of others.

So, I had to quickly wash my face, wash away my teary eyes and head off off to my meeting.

Today was a chock full of back to back meetings focusing on our summer reading series which is just 12 days away. The film and reading series are an interesting mix because the film series is entirely our responsibility and

the reading series is based on trust...

- trusting the writers to deliver and follow through
- trusting the readers, their valuable opinions and voices
- trusting the casting directors to find appropriate & talented actors
- trusting the agents to get the scripts to the actors
- trusting the actors to prepare for the readings
- trusting the actors to give 100% at the reading
- trusting the audience to attend and support the live performance
- trusting the caterers to show up and feed the actors
- trusting the development companies to be in attendance
- trusting the theater to be accommodating
- trusting the directors will be prepared
- trusting the directors to be creative with each screenplay

no choice, but to trust

"So what are you doing for the summer?" seems to be the common question these days now that The Film Medley, our weekly film series, has ended. Although The Medley series is full of various weekly events and almost always has a few surprises thrown in, it tends to be much more routine than the non-Medley season.

The summer is busier than any other time of year. Currently we are preparing for Stage One, our screenplay reading series. We're in the middle of casting our June readings, working with the writers, casting directors, theaters, agents, actors and their schedules...which for me, is the most foreign area of the industry, at the same time it's wonderful learning and watching how each agency and casting director works independently of each other.

We also work with all of the screenplay submissions; break each one of them down, hold meetings regarding our future participation with each of the screenplays, if we should send them to managers, competitions, development companies and/ or read as part of our series... or none of the above.

We are also presently in discussion regarding representation of one film, working on the DIY distribution with another film, and servicing four other filmmakers which includes; screenings, promotions, press, advertising and EPKs. Finally, we are upgrading our site which is long overdue (F.Y.I. the firewalls are gone).

When the summer comes around; it's time to smell the trash & urine on the streets, wait for subways on the 100+ degree platforms, hope the person standing nearest on the subway resists from raising their arm.... and for us, time to roll up our sleeves and get busy.

I had a meeting on Tuesday with the director of marketing from PhilipsNizer, the law firm where my lawyer Peter Fields is a partner. PhilipsNizer is interested in putting together a series of discussions for filmmakers, producers and writers and I suggested dedicating a discussion to Not-For Profit film organizations. Vikki, the marketing director then asked if I would attend a meeting for Not-For Profits the following night (last night) which coincidentally PhilipsNizer was hosting.

If you ever feel a strong desire to doubt your existence, I suggest you attend a meeting for Not-For Profit Organizations.

Understanding that many art oriented organizations are Not-For Profit, none of them were represented at last night's meeting. So not only was I the only non Not-For Profit Organization, I was the only organization representing the arts community. The evening consisted of an hour of networking prior to the guest speaker, therefore people began introducing themselves and their companies and enquiring about The Reel Roundtable (it was on my name tag). I suddenly realized that I was ignoring their questions and continued to ask them about their organizations.

As much as I love film and what I do; listening to the people who founded organizations and have spent their lives focusing on helping battered women, the homeless, the hungry, war veterans and disabled people to name a few...I simply did not feel up to discussing my story... veteran filmmakers, hungry artists and disabled studios.

There was one organization in particular, which I felt had made an amazing difference, so I offered to forward his information to some documentary filmmakers and if they were interested in working with him, then maybe it would help in getting more exposure. Seeing his face light up made me a feel a little better...for about 30 seconds.

After the event, I was heading over to pick up my friend Adam who lives about 15 blocks from PhilipsNizer. While I was walking and pondering over the lives I had just encountered, one of those guys on a bike with a carriage pulled up along side and kindly offered a free ride in his carriage. So I jumped in and enjoyed a beautiful evening ride up Fifth Avenue. The tranquility of midtown at night allowed me to forget my non Not-For Profit existence.

Last night we hosted an open forum discussion for folks who participate in The Reel Roundtable's film, screenplay and/or networking events. The goal was to receive feedback regarding prior events and to open up the programming to the audience by brainstorming for next season's events. It was the first time we designated an entire evening to audience programming.

The turn-out was positively overwhelming and the evening exceeded all expectations. At first, it took a while for the group to warm up and think outside the box and outside the evenings that had already been programmed. All in all, the audience programming was a complete success.

Once the momentum had begun; the ideas started rolling, influencing more ideas, growing rapidly, and they were all intelligent, creative and fresh. The evening added even more excitement to an already engaging film series.

One of the meetings I had today was with a very pleasant and passionate film festival director.

I find that meetings with film festivals are relatively routine; they inquire about the Reel Roundtable, then describe their festival and how thier festival differs from other festivals, they ask for the support of The Reel Roundtable (which we do 100%) and last, I will recommend other film organizations and film companies to contact regarding support for their festival.

At the end of the day; no matter how large or small the festival, I sincerely support the passion of the film festivals and admire all of the hard work which is invested to present such a variety of film programs to audiences all over the world.

The love of film amongst the film festivals is what I see over and over again, which is why there is no such list "Top Ten Film Festivals of Passion".