Netflix: Well, I'm probably going to be cancelling Netflix. While I adore their selection of films, with my current financial goals, my main concern is value, and lemme tell ya'--Netflix ain't a value.

That's not neccesarily a bad thing. There's a lot to be said for convenience and selection. Right now, that's just not what my priority is.

Plus, I'm fed up with their customer service department. It's like communicating with Liza, or one of those prototype AI personalities that are all over the internet. They just spot random keywords and generate form answers. Kinda silly.

Which means I'm going to have to have to figure out some new entertainement options on my budget.

I guess that's probably a good thing.

Attention American Theatre Owners: In China, they've begun to sell a little card for like $12 that you can use to get in to up to 30 movies during off-hours.

I realize that with the way film distribution works in the US, this is a little less feasible, but you really should start entering into negotiations with studios to begin to offer something like this during the summer. You'd have your theatres bombarded by families with kids who'd probably buy lots of your over-priced concessions, since in their minds the movies were "free."

Urban Legends: I usually don't go in for rumors, but I must admit to having bought this one. I'll never trust you again, Ryan!

Birthday Presents For Myself: I have this tradition that I go through on any holiday that involves presents, such as my birthday or Christmas.

About a month before my birthday, I always tell myself I'm going to give myself a present for my birthday--my first finished screenplay.

Then I grab Viki King's How To Write A Movie In 21 Days and start writing. For maybe three days. Enough for the first draft of the first act. Then I run away screaming like a madman.

So, I'm giving it a shot this year. This year, I've actually followed through on a few things for a while, so I'm hoping this bodes well for my getting what I want for my birthday.

I almost didn't tell anybody about this, but I do recognize the power of reporting results in trying to reach a goal--so you're all going to get to hear all about my little adventures.

Pre-writing starts tonight. Twenty-one days start Monday.

Wish me luck.

Lyrical Twists: While listening to Dial-a-song, I came across a delightful cover of a song by artist Walt Kelly, from The Pogo Songbook, called "Lines From A Tranquil Brow." Here's the lyric (and a tiny video, if you care):

Have you ever, while pondering the ways of the morn,
Thought to save just a bit, just a drop in the horn?
To pour in the evening, or late afternoon,
Or during the night, when we're shining the Moon?
Have you ever cried out, while counting the snow,
Or watching the tomtit warble "Hello":
"BREAK OUT THE CIGARS! This life is for squirrels
We're off to the drugstore to whistle at girls"

It reminded me of this little ditty Rowlf the Dog used to sing on The Muppet Show:

When the whipperwill is singing in the forest
When the gentle brook is murmuring a tune
When the mockingbirds are singing in the wildwood
When a lonely wolf is howling at the moon
When the leaves of the old oak tree start a rustling
And the waterfall makes sounds like woman's tears
When the whole world is filled with Mother Nature's noises
That's the time to stuff cotton in your ears.

Comic Books On The Big Screen: So, there's more comic book movies in production right now than probably have ever been projected onto the silver screen. Every comic book imaginable is in some phase of development at one studio or another.

I have two problems with how it's happening:

First, the fate of entire franchises are being left in the hands of a handful of people who may or may not know what they're doing. Hulk, for example, is kind of dead, even though it's a perfectly viable franchise, simply because the first group of people to get their hands on it didn't click with audiences.

This is scary. Rumors were circulating for a while there that Green Lantern, the greatest comic book character of all time and the one with the greatest potential for big screen slam-bag action was being turned into a silly, Mask-style comedy staring Jack Black. Following the collective groan of agony fans across the world emitted when that little tidbit found its way to the web, studio executives, who never ever make mistakes, are denying that was ever on the table.

That was a can't win situation. If they made it, and it went over big, Green Lantern would forever be trapped in the world of silliness. If it tanked, no studio would ever want to touch a Green Lantern project again.

Is there hope for the future for mangled projects? Sure. The Batman franchise was defined one way by the old TV show, but Tim Burton managed to put a clearer direction on it before derailing it himself with his own sequel. Now, the current film may bring that hero back from the depths of development hell. So all is not lost forever if one of these teams mangles a favorite character or two of mine. Much like a comic book death, it probably just means it'll be a while before you hear from them again.

My second complaint is that the piecemeal nature of the sales of these projects is insuring a lot of great stories aren't going to be told. Some of the best stories in Comicdom are cross-over adventures, and when two different studios own the rights to the two characters you want to bring together, things get too complicated to pull it off.

Fortunately, Warner Brothers, who own DC comics, also own the big screen rights to most of the DC characters, so such graphic novels as Cosmic Odyssey still stand a chance of eventually hitting the big screen.

The problem is that studio execs are reluctant to attempt such cross-overs. They see mixing franchises like that as something of a death knell for both characters--think Dracula meets Frankenstein. It's like putting up a big flashing neon sign that says, "Sorry! Out of ideas!"

Film seems to be the only medium to have this stigma. Comic books and television have long recognized the value of cross-promotion. I think film should be able to overcome it as well.

Our first shot will be Batman Vs. Superman, directed by Wolfgang Peterson. How quickly this gets made is apparently entirely based upon how well the upcoming Batman and Superman movies do, but rumor has it both actors have clauses in their contracts that would require them to do the team-up movie if the studio execs deem it would be profitable.

Back In My Day: I'm not one of those folks who freaks out every time some change gets made to something I knew from when I was a kid.

Every time I'm tempted to wax poetic about the virtues of the original Star Wars movies or how cool the original Legend of Zelda was, I just imagine if my Dad had tried to convince me that those old 12" GIJoe figures he had as a kid were somehow better or more "real" than my little Zartan and Snake Eyes figures.

"Yeah, whatever, Dad," I would have thought. "You can keep your wanna-be Ken doll."

But still, a part of me still feels that the 80's was a sort of Renaissance for toys and children's programming the likes of which we have not seen since.

I watched some show with my kids the other day that seemed to be an animated version of two guys with cards playing War. You really can't convince me that's somehow better or cooler than even the girlie cartoons of the '80's. If Jem and the Holograms had ever stopped to play cards for half an episode, we'd have flipped the channel to Silverhawks.

And with this rant, I think I've officially qualified myself for fogeyhood.

First Nominee: The first (and quite possibly last, since it is thus far the only) nominee for this month's author of the month comes from Lynn, who makes, not surprisingly, a musically themed offering, which looks, also not surprisingly, terrific:

There are many that I could recommend but the first
that came to mind is Elizabeth Haydon. Here's her
website: http://www.elizabethhaydon.com/
I have read Rhapsody, Prophecy and Destiny and enjoyed
them all. Both my sons liked them too.

I recommend the website, particularly the "Mystery Guest" section. Also, all proceeds of Prophecy go to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

Dun-Dun-Dun-Duuuuuh: Apparently the new word floating around is that the Indy IV script was approved by Lucas and Spielberg, and now only needs a nod from Ford.

The author is Jeff Nathanson, whose sequel credits include Speed 2: Cruise Control.

I'm not exactly dancing.

Hindsight Is 20/20: So before all the new news stuff gets into google, I decided to google Mark Felt and Deep Throat to see how likely it was that this was the guy.

I think the answer is: Pretty obvious.

Not only was he the one Nixon suspected, but even Bernstein's ex-wife, Nora Ephron, admitted she thought it was him, after an (in retrospect) embarrassing incident where a student claimed he'd heard Felt was Deep Throat from Bernstein's son. The student wrote a 20 page paper detailing all the evidence Felt was the man, including the fact that in the earliest drafts of All The President's Men, the anonymous source was identified as "My Friend," M.F. being the initials of Mark Felt. There was also a meeting between Felt and Woodward around that time that suggested a deeper association between the two. As far back as 2002, Felt's family even identified him as Deep Throat on their answering machine (although the article does say it was done in jest).

In retrospect, it will probably turn out to have been harder for the media to cover up that this was the guy than it would have been to find out who he was.

I'm sure those of you who get the cable news channels have heard all this already, but I was amused at some of my discoveries and thought I'd share.