How Did You Spend Your College Years?

While going through some old papers last night, I came across an old outline for a student movie that Mark, Rueben, Sti-Fu, Eric, and few others and I were going to make: The Mighty Reservoir Ducks.

I'd forgotten I had ever written the thing. From what I can gather from the rough notes, the film was going to be about a group of amateur-league hockey players turned thieves when they decide to rob a priceless comic book on display at a comic book convention. I seem to recall that we would all be on rollerblades throughout the whole movie. That...just could NOT have ended well.

I found a list of the characters: Whitey, played by Mark; Black & Blue, played by Eric; Brown-Nose; Pinky, the tough thief (with a secret) played by Rueben; Wise Guy Ernie, played by Plainview; and Agent Orange- the undercover fanboy of the group, played by me. I'm not sure what part Sti-Fu was going to play. Maybe the security guard watching over the book.

Needless to say, it's probably for the best that it was never made.


There seems to be a growing debate going on right now over the whole James Frey "memoir," A Million Little Pieces. The question is: when writing about your real life, how much is real, and how much is exaggerated? Well, as a writer, and storyteller, I know that for a story to be interesting, sometimes the pacing has to be changed. Sometimes the timeline is adjusted to make the point hit that much harder. And, in my case especially, certain facts are obliterated to make the story funny.

Now, did Frey have the right to alter his view of reality of his real life in order to sell a few million more copies of his book? Did he enter into an agreement with the Big O, and her marketing department, with full knowledge that what he was selling wasn't the truth, the whole truth and nothing but? Is that grounds for a lawsuit?

I'm not sure where I stand on this subject just yet. In the end, I think it all comes down to your memory of what happened. Now, I pride myself on my memory and base most of my actions and judgments on them. But, memory is the single most debated subject in history. Memory can change a blue car to a green car during a trial. A six foot four man into a five foot tall woman, if the DA paints the scene different way. Five different people can witness the same event, and you can get five different versions of what happened. It all depends on where their minds were at the time of the event.

If we convince ourselves that something happened a certain way, and state that as fact, are we lying? Was Frey justified in turning his three hours in jail into three months? Does the fact that you know the truth now change the enjoyment of the book you read before you knew? I've a feeling we haven't seen the last of this......


Jane made a good recommendation about getting my hands on some actual Everwood scripts. I've found a couple of websites who offer transcripts, but not official screenplays. Anyone have any ideas on where to look?

I heard back form AJ, and she's onboard, so I guess this thing is really going to happen. It's been a while since I did anything like this, so I'm a little wary. Hopefully, everything will work out well.

"The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder." ~Ralph W. Sockman

-Jos