Another long wait between posts. I apologize but I have good reasons, really. Good raisins, too.

I was at WWDC all last week (see photos here), which ran the gamut of emotional and physical responses: excitement, frustration, confusion and exhaustion. It was a good conference as far as I could tell (I attended quite a few sessions but much of my day was spent in meetings), but the best times were outside of the conference, spent with all of the many great friends I have back in my hometown.

I will be posting an article about WWDC over in the Norton blogsite and you probably either already know what happened there or just don't care. Suffice to say that the iPhone is rapidly becoming a legitimate technology platform and I think it's appropriate to say that the transition that this iPhone is a part of (if not helping define) is a big one. It will be very interesting to see what features we assume from technology in the next five years.

- I am a guest host on this week's iFanboy podcast. It was a lot of fun, and one of those items I was very happy to check off in my "life's to do list". I had started listening to the podcast several years ago and always thought it would be fun to be on the show, and now I can say, it was an absolute blast to do it. It was a real pleasure and the feedback has been very positive so far. It's a lot of prep work, getting ready for the show, I had to get a headset to use with Skype (for sound quality) and set up my desk so I could easily access the books we were discussing, my notes, water, coffee, chat windows...it was like doing a radio show, which, of course, makes sense. The thing about the show is that it's usually pretty entertaining even if you don't know anything about comics, since there are aspects to the conversation that everyone can relate to (characters, stories, art, etc). This was another "live" event that I really couldn't truly prep for (not unlike the stuff I had to do in Vegas), so I am relieved it went well.

It also underscores my belief that you truly achieve any goal you have if you make a consistent effort to achieve said goal. Now, sure, I didn't write out "Be on iFanboy" one day, but I did want to get more involved, to the point that getting on the show would definitely become an option. And, now, it's happened. Of course, now I am writing a weekly article for them, which I did not plan at all--but it got me a chance to be on the show. And, again, while I could control some aspects toward this goal (enthusiastic participation, making sure to keep in touch, etc, etc), the TIMING was not in my control at all. If I had any expectation of "being on the podcast by xx years," none of this would have happened. I know, I sound like a broken record, but life is all about living the moment and not trying to fulfill expectations (yours or others).

- Speaking of real time activities, I gotta admit that writing regularly is quite a challenge. I had a crazy time last week when I had both an article for iFanboy, a new story summary, the first 10 pages of my screenplay and my inciting incident due on Tuesday. Now, of course, I am to fault completely--I procrastinated like crazy, but that's how I am used to dealing with writing deadlines: I get the topics/scenes/sections figured out in my head, and then I sit down and write it out. That's how I got through college--all of my papers were first drafts, technically--and it worked out fine. And life is not all that different now, come to think of it. When I was in college I had homework and papers due all the time, but was in rehearsals until 11 almost every night of the week, so doing it my head was my only recourse, really.

Maybe it is more difficult because I don't have that crazy structure that made me so nuts back then. Whatever--I did all the work that I needed to do, and so far, so good. What is...stressful? interesting? just...different? about writing NOW is that there is nothing for me to refer to--everything I am writing is from my own head. I am being asked to take a topic, aim my brain at it, and then transform that chaos into text and pictures. Which is a challenge, let me tell you! It's a great challenge, but I can see why "real" writers make a schedule--if I had any kind of discipline, I would be getting up at 6am each morning and just get it done before I went to work. I might have to do just that, actually--the screenplay is going to be at least 100 more pages, right? It took me over an hour to get the first 10 done...that's at least 10 more hours...yikes...scary.

But it's all new--all of this is new, and I haven't been challenged like this in awhile. I am definitely growing creatively, which feels really good.

- I made quite a few Father's Day calls yesterday. It was nice. It's really quite an experience to watch my oldest friends become parents. Trips me out like crazy.

- We won't talk about acting right now. Nothing to talk about.

- Saw some great old cars at The Grove a few weeks ago. Check the photos here.

Have a good week!

Tags: wwdc, san francisco, comics, ifanboy

I had a whole entry about the new iPods, but then a bunch of stuff started happening, including the revelation that the 4GB iPhones were being discontinued and going for $299 while they still were in stock, which kind of changed everything, as the screenshot above shows. Yes, after fighting the good fight, I capitulated and got an iPhone. You've probably already read all the good stuff and bad stuff about the device, so I am not going to go into it too much right here, but suffice to say, I have used it much more for web browsing, emailing and messaging than I have actually using it as a phone! The mantra seems to be true--this is more than a phone, it's basically a very nice mobile communications device.

I have a lot of rationalizations (including that damn broken screen on my old, lame, slow Cingular 3125 phone) but in the end, it's become not why I ended up getting the phone, it's about what I can do now that I have it in my now often less greasy mitts. Basically, it's really, really nice too have a solid way of emailing and getting on the web while I am on the road dealing with auditions. Today, for instance--I was at another last minute audition and I had forgotten the address of my last minute call back (everything has been "same day" for the past week, which has been really crazy) that was happening an hour later. So, i was able to email my agent and she was able to email it to me right back and, if I needed to, I could then map out the address and get the directions all on the same screen. That's just sick, you know? And yes, I know, I could this with my old phone but, really? I couldn't.

(3 days later)

I have been starting and stopping this all week, apologies for that. Yes, the iPhone is rad, no, I don't think that everyone needs one, but I can basically say that everything you read is basically true: it's a pretty amazing device, having Internet access wherever you want is fantastic, having a pretty solid camera is great, being able to watch videos, listen to music, show people photos, check your email, deal with calendars, etc, etc--it all works great. Whit used it a lot this past weekend and commented how great the user interface and loved being able to give me driving directions based on actual maps. Yes, there are problems that just seem weird to me:

- how do you add an attachment to an email? There's gotta be a way, but the only attachment process that I have seen is the "take a picture, send it" process. It works, but if you wanna add more than one photo, etc...I'm lost.

- Apple makes a big deal about having a full featured mail program but it's odd there are no font options? Not that you need to italicize everything, but, I mean, what's with that?

- So, there's really no way to send a single text messages to multiple people? really?

- How about switching the "from" account when sending an email? How do you do that?

- The camera desperately needs to have a zoom feature (or at least a cropping feature available in some kind of edit mode) and it's really lame it can't take video (yes, I realize we are talking about a phone, but honestly, phone stopped being phones awhile ago. they all have cameras, and so far, all of the camera phones I have used have had both zoom and video capabilities). There also needs to be some kind of white balance or something--these pictures can get dark when it's not all that dark outside.

Luckily, most of this seems addressable by software updates...so, let's update and fix this stuff, apple.

But hey, I'm happy. I'm really enjoying taking pictures throughout the day, I must admit, like this one I took after going to the Mexico City restaurant on Sunday. Hmm...Sunday margarita...

Here's a shot of the lovely Silverlake area in LA; we were looking at some houses (for fun) and this view was pretty terrific.
The place was trapped in 1979 (complete with glittery white ceilings) but the views were nice.

So what else? I had some good auditions last week (which have resulted in some good callbacks) but no bites, which bites. I guess there is still some time for things to happen but whatever; I actually went in for a pretty funny fast food spot, but I did not get a chance to do the character I had originally done because they had this other guy who was just doing it so deadpan that I am pretty sure he got the part immediately and they were just looking for someone else to play opposite him. I'm okay at deadpan, but, really, I think deadpan stuff only goes so far, humorwise. I think--no, I know, that being earnest in an unusual/odd situation is actually more honestly funny. Anyone can be weird/unnatrual in a weird/unnatrual situation; the key is being normal in that situation and not judging it or commenting on the moment by doing something artificial. Ah, well...I may not get cast, but at least I am going down in dreamy opinionated flames.

Had a really good chat with Ravi about Australia, meditation and parental motivations/agendas which warrant their own post, but these ruminations will have to come later when I am in a more thoughtful frame of mind. Suffice to say, it was more than excellent to talk to him and I am looking forward to more musings later. Right now, I am just trying to tie up some loose work threads before I bust out of here for a callback this evening...where, this time, I am getting called back because of my earnestness.

Tags: apple, tech, iphone