A very happy November to you all! I have a trailer to the movie I wrote with
Brent Huff, “Black Rose”
Looks pretty
cool, I think. Black Rose will be
released in January nationwide (Russia
nationwide, that is) in theaters, and will be seen on DVD some time in 2014. My
second film to be shot in Moscow,
The Boy, goes before cameras in December of this year. I’ll be heading to Red
Square this time around, hoping to see Katherine’s jewels and
shoot some groovy vodka. In January, I co-produce a film in Connecticut from my script, A Fatal
Obsession, which stars Eric Roberts, Tracy Nelson and yours truly as The
Beaver. Busy 90 days ahead, providing my
cirrhosis doesn’t take over and I’m forced to kill some baboon for his liver.
The news continues to demoralize
as do politics, so I shall remain shrewdly quiet on such matters. On a more personal animal note – and it
reminded me how kind animals can be to one another (a trait I wish was more
apparent with human beings) – I walk by a street corner daily to fetch some
fresh gourmet coffee. Every morning,
someone comes over and pours out a ton of bread crumbs in a shallow sand basin
for a kit of neighborhood pigeons. The
birds enjoy breakfast, as such, on a daily basis. Two mornings ago, I recognized a stray bird –
actually, a banded pigeon, clearly someone’s property, perhaps just hooking up
with the flock on his travels or simply lost and joining in the festivities.
He looked exhausted, and after
eating pecking about for a bit (I watched the birds dine for about ten minutes)
the guest bird crouched to a resting position and blinked sleepily at the
feeding throng around him. A small hen approached this more sophisticated rock
dove and began gently picking out mites from the weary traveler and in such a
way that could only be construed as altruistic rather than bored abandon at
scarfing down a dessert mite. The guest bird continued to blink sleepily and
allowed the nuzzling. It was a very
touching sight to behold and made my entire day.
A truck passed suddenly and the
group took to the sky, with the guest bird flying off on his own, toward his
own personal destiny. I watched him
disappear over the horizon and whispered to myself “safe journey, brave soldier,
safe journey.” We all travel alone in
this life, whether we have a mate or not.
Our own singular journey is very private and complex. We can either traverse the course with some
degree of happiness and a sense of adventure, or alternatively, with an
inconsolable sense of dread and fear. I
choose the former, for better or for worse, whether there is a Great Creator or
not. Life is a blessing. We should endeavor to celebrate it daily and with an
inviolate sense of gratitude to whatever gods may be.
Now please glance at Amazon and peruse
my many literary offerings. I need bread
for the birds should the old homeless person who feeds them daily suddenly keel
over dead and leave his feathered children starving in the streets.
We can’t have that now, can we?...
