Sometimes, events in life conspire in such a way as to take your breath away. The whimsical, fanciful way things sometimes happen in such a disordered fashion that brings a sudden order to your thoughts can lead you to think that there is a hidden hand somewhere, out there in the cosmos that is either trying to send a message, or just having fun. This can happen in "real time" - the present - or in the past, by observing history.Some...

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By far the question I get asked the most is how do you get an agent? I wish there was an easy answer. But the truth is you need persistence, sometimes a little ingenuity, and luck. There is a directory of agents that the Writers Guild offers. Some smaller agencies will accept new submissions. Contact all of them. Try to distinguish yourself. And by that I don’t mean grab a sign and stand on the interstate. This is a writing...

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One of the hardest tasks in any script is coming up with names. They have to sound right, fit the character’s personality and ethnicity. Every writer has a different method for coming up with them. Woody Allen uses names that are as short as possible so he has less to type. For David and I, we tend to use either baseball player names or personal friends.On MASH we had the added problem of all the patients that rotated in and out...

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Dan O'Shannon, now an executive producer of MODERN FAMILY, was a producer on CHEERS when the "We Will Rock You" teaser was shot.  He dropped me a note with some more details.  When we shot it, we weren't intending to fade out during the song. Instead, the song just kind of peters out, and that's when Cliff comes bursting in singing "we will rock you", too late to join in. When we looked at it in editing, it didn't seem...

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My friend Kevin has a policy that I have recently adopted. I will not carry on a text conversation. Text messages are great for short alerts.I’m running late. I’m at baggage claim. I’m pregnant. But they’re not designed to replace conversations. After a couple of quick back and forths, if you want to continue to converse with me I will CALL you. You’re obviously there. You just texted me two seconds ago. ...

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I'm beginning to think that the Republican Majority in the House of Representatives knows and understands that they can't accomplish what the Tea Party money paid elected them to do, so they are going to flex their muscles and scare people for the rest of their term while sending a message to their supporters that, see, they are actually doing what they were paid elected to do. That's what I think on a good day.On a bad day, like...

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Farmer's Daughter Crystal Bowersox LyricsTitle: Farmer's Daughter LyricsArtist: Crystal BowersoxHere is Farmer's Daughter Lyrics performed by Crystal Bowersox @ PlazaMp3.Blogspot.ComHalf way to crazyNot far from saneOh, sick and tired for all of your gamesAnd all I ever wanted was you to take care of meHonor thy mother, oh and father tooBut I know there ain't no way in hell that God mentioned youAnd all I ever wanted was you to...

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Three months ago, in October, 2010, Rolling Stone, an Ugandan newspaper, featured a front page diatribe against homosexuality with a picture of human rights activist and gay man, David Kato, under the banner that read "100 Pictures of Uganda's Top Homos. Hang Them." Mr. Kato, an advocacy officer for the gay rights group Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), led the list of 100 homosexual men and women whose names, addresses, and photographs...

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More of your Friday questions and my attempt at answers.Phillip B asks:I noticed that the opening on CHEERS was often entirely unrelated to the rest of the episode. Was it just a chance for a good joke, was it made detachable knowing it was going to get cut in syndication, or was this a chance to give a chance for an actor to more fully develop their role?Doing a self-contained bit as a teaser was an artistic decision the Charles...

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Toronto, Canada. In December I've already posted a EP, Sing & Flow, where John Legend has pleasured us to be part of his gorgeous talent. Now I found this great track "Heartbreaker" by MSTRKRFT ft. John Legend. This unique track has a nice beat surrounded by a bright piano play. It's out of the album "Fist Of God" which was released on 18th September last year.download tr...

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Denver, CO, USA. That's amazing. In the first moment, I didn't listening to "Tennis". Cause of its band name and the cover. Well, I expected something totally diffrent. I don't know. By all means, a kind of boring music which I wouldn't recommend to you. But, hell no!! This is (in my eyes) a being in a good mood music. A happy, sunny, lucky, bright, gorgeous music. It's keeping to nod one's head all the time. Lovely!Tennis - Marathon...

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One of the joys of being at EDS is learning new ways to think about things - words, especially - that you always have always taken for granted.I had a serendipitous lunch with Dean Ragsdale the other day, the way things often happen in refectories - now called "Brattle Cafe" (but not, thanks be to God, a 'cafeteria'). She happened to mention, in the off-handed way of casual conversations among old friends, that she's been thinking...

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Reader Travis Puterbaugh wrote: "Ken, how about a column on "Episodes," the new Showtime series. Have you seen it yet?"I feel bad reviewing a show that’s on SHOWTIME since not all of my readers can watch it. But I see that you can go on line to Hulu and places like that and screen episodes, so what the hell? I have seen EPISODES, and I enjoy it. I do have some issues but first the good stuff. Kathleen Rose Perkins, as the...

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Sweat Lyrics Snoop DoggTitle: SweatArtist: Snoop DoggThe new rap song: Sweat Lyrics performed by Snoop Dogg @ PlazaMp3.Blogspot.ComDig Snoop DoggCan you be my doctor?Can you fix me up?Can you wipe me down?So I can make you give it up give it upUntil you say my nameLike a Jersey Jersey shuttin’ down the gameBe my head coachSo you can…And never take me outTill you can taste the wayDo it again, and again...

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Stockholm, Sweden. I can't believe it. In March PB&J will release "Gimme Some" - the 6th album. I don't know where they have hidden from me the others. Okay, I didn't recognize PB&J until "Young Folks". I thought, "Writer's Block" were their first album (actually the third). And than, I fell in love with their fifth album "Living Thing" (in my eyes, the second). I'd never got in touch with the mystic three albums. Anyway,...

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Last week I went to a restaurant I’ve been going to for years. Some great entrees and it’s a block from Cedars-Sinai hospital so if I have any kind of attack during dinner I’m covered.There are three or four dishes I always like and their soups are m-m-m good (which is the official standard for soup). I hadn’t been there in a few months but when I picked up the menu I was shocked. They had completely changed it. Now there...

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Ah, the French! Always so fatalistic. And, often so right! It was author Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in the January 1849 issue of his journal Les Guêpes (“The Wasps”) who coined the epigram "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose". It has become a modern proverb of sorts, meaning, roughly, "The more things change, the more they stay the same".That's been my experience, thus far, of returning to the campus of The Episcopal Divinity...

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