OUT AND ABOUT & BACK IN THE HOOD

I've not posted much of late; I've been rather busy with the post-production of my first Tom Sizemore film "Blue Line" which wrapped a few months ago. We hope to shoot the rest early next year. I have also been involved in writing my next Lifetime film along with a film called Tangoman ... which I've completed the initial stages of shooting here in Buenos Aires, Argentina ... where I currently am posting to all of you out there. Tangoman will feature the revered music of Astor Piazolla, who rose to fame and prominence for his work in the 60s, 70s and 80s. All this activity has of course caused unforeseen delays in my sequels to Gray Area, which I still hope to have completed by the end of the year. More details to come on upcoming events as they develop. Stay well and be careful out there ... sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you!

Stuff in the Air!

So, I believe March and April had to be two of the crappiest months I've ever known. Forget about the Malaysian Flight 370 pulling a Twilight Zone episode or the Korean ferry disaster. Those are pretty miserable events, but look at what is happening in the Ukraine and here in the U.S.  A very pretty girl in Connecticut was stabbed to death at her school by some crazy little bastard who said, and I quote, upon being captured:  "Wait, I'm not done killing people." And then we have that idiot rancher in Nevada, spouting filth about slavery and folks of color.  Then ... and I don't think I'm the only one voicing my perennial pithy ire ... there's the tax thing.  I dunno ... sometimes life is just plain overwhelming.  Okay, I'm done on my rant, thank you very much.

Other news:  I launched The Lynx Factor, my first book of three, in the series. This was done in February. Other books will be launched in May and July. The Lynx Factor is in the Ludlum genre of terrorism and espionage. Peter Lynx is the most unique hero you will ever encounter. An ex-Navy Seal/mortician who must deal with Al Qaeda on American turf.  I continue to labor away on my sequels to Gray Area and I would have been done with them months ago had not the need to pay rent reared its ugly head with work. My film A Fatal Obsession, starring Eric Roberts, took up most of January and my other film, Changing Lives, starring my friend, Mark Dacascos (who is also directing) took up February and March. Five days have already been shot in Moscow, with remaining shooting to resume in May. I shall be in Russia for a week or so at that time.

So there's the latest update, ramblers.  Keep reading! And stay out of trouble. And to those writers in the fore, remember:  Write about something worth reading ... or do something worth writing about.  Cheers!

ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT

So, as mentioned in my prior blog, I wrote and co-produced this film, A Fatal Obsession, in Connecticut this past January. Film stars Eric Roberts and the very dear Tracy Nelson (she has been in two other movies of mine for the Lifetime Channel - The Night Caller and Her Perfect Spouse). On Saturday evening, February 22, Entertainment Tonight featured my young producer, Richard Switzer, wherein he discussed the movie and how he found the script that attracted such notable talent. He was quite generous with throwing my name about as well.

Please enjoy the link below to the show's segment on Switzer, myself and A Fatal Obsession.

Rolling 'Fast and Furious' for 2014!

Sorry, folks - I've been off the radar these past few months, but my excuse is terrific: I've been producing back to back movies since late December.

My first film, which started shooting January 1, was A Fatal Obsession, starring the fascinating personality of Eric Roberts and the veteran talent, Tracy Nelson.  We're shooting for a Lifetime Channel sale.  Shoot was great but it was shot entirely in Groton, Connecticut, which was enjoying the wrath of the polar vortex (if you remember that sexy climatic term) and thus I was freezing my nuts off most of the shoot. I was one of the co-stars, and as luck would have it, a lot of my scenes were exteriors, i.e., outside in the friggin' cold.  But it all went well, so no complaints.

I returned to L.A. and a few days later, began shooting a movie I did NOT write, but had a decent role in and co-produced, Buddy Hutchins, starring Jamie Kennedy and the legendary Sally Kirkland. We wrapped that a week ago, and since that time, I've hustled to finish the first book of three in the series, The Lynx Factor. Fans of Russell Blake, John Irving and Robert Ludlum will enjoy this action story about an ex-Seal and mortician who must deal with terrorists taking over his apartment complex and threatening to destroy L.A. with a dirty bomb launched from stinger missiles smuggled in from abroad. I's not your conventional adventure - Peter Lynx is a quirky hero who suffers from perpetual bad luck, which he refers to as The Lynx Factor. I think you'll all love it. I launch the first book this weekend, so look out for it.

I have another movie I wrote shooting in Moscow, late March, early April, so will be out of commission again until mid-April, but will be better at keeping you all apprised of activities in the next month or so. Hopefully, things will have settled down in the Ukraine by then.

The Bird of Time has but a little way To fly --- and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.

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?...

The Maya - like Miley - lets it all hang out as a wonder!

So, just got back from the sweltering jungles of the Yukatan Peninsula wherein I climbed one of the highest pyramids in North America (located in Coba) and reflected on all things spiritual and literary. That and consuming my body weight in tequila and beer on a daily basis.  Fascinating people, the Mayans; a clearly advanced society in terms of science and architecture, yet horrific in terms of their approach to humanity ... it was nearly non-existent.  Human sacrifice was the hobby of any given occasion - not just virgins (a horrible waste under any condition) but adults, children and babies.

The Mayans had a ball game, for instance, wherein they played in a huge court (beautifully intact) at Chichen Itza.  Much like soccer, they played with a rubber ball utilizing their knees, feet, elbows, head, etc. ... but no hands.  The captains of each team struggled desperately to win for a great prize rendered only to them should they emerge victorious:  they were allowed to be beheaded.  Yay!  I win. I get to naked above the shoulders to honor the gods.  This is because the Mayans believed that the next life beat the shit out of this one (arguable at cocktail hour).

They also followed the planet Venus and its cycle and it matched NASA's calculation to within an hour (you can google for more detail - I'll spare the reader the voluminous info in this blog).  All in all a fascinating adventure and I recommend it to one and all (it is now one of the 7 wonders of the world). So far I've seen 3 of them: The Coliseum in Rome, The Christos in Brazil and Chichen Itza. Gonna try to see the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge (and possibly the pyramids in Egypt), by hell and high water, sometime in 2014, depending on the $$$ coming in from all of you reading my books, dear fans.

So get going, read up on the Mayans and buy my crap.  Please.

Thank you.

Peace In Our Time Doesn't Always Work When Dealing With Child-Murderers

At the risk of alienating some of my readership, I am posting the below on a subject I feel too strongly about to ignore.

I find it fascinating and depressing that the international community remains largely quiet on the Syrian debacle vis a vis that regime's use of chemical weapons against civilians and in particular, children. It voiced various degrees of outrage or support for the ill-advised criminal Iraq war perpetrated by the recidivist Bush regime but with clear evidence of inhumanity alive and well in Syria, well deserving of punitive military response, the world wishes to remain silent or, worse, like the UK, inactive and Neville Chamberlain-like passive. Only the United States is contemplating decisive action against the death merchant, Assad, and his evil retinue of murderers. Obama should exhibit no hesitation in committing U.S. forces to pounding the hell out of Assad and his minions; that should be the measure of U.S. resolve, and the longer we wait on such action, the more the salient message reverberates: My name is Assad and I can murder people with impunity. Go f__ yourself, world, and particularly you, America.

Let not wickedness triumph, Mr. President. Attack now. Unlike Bush, show the world you risk war for moral and decent reasons outside of political and territorial expansionist interests.

I quite understand the UK in one way inasmuch as their resources have been over-extended in both the Iraq and Afghan theaters; people are simply tired of fighting an enemy which is consistently horrendous in terms of civilized behavior (or lack thereof).  War has taken toll on the democratic peoples of the world and folks are weary.  But now is not the time to shy away from a clear, egregious example of virtual genocide, perpetrated by a regime clearly lacking in any moral foundation and contrary to all rules of not only war, but the basic precepts of decency and humanity.  

It is my prediction that President Obama will not wait long to hit Assad hard.  The question is will the President's characterization of 'hard' deter Assad from further acts of murderous euthanasia against the Syrian people? He has stated that the U.S. is not interested in a 'regime change' - by which he means to say he plans to allow Assad to continue living and holding sway over a defenseless population - and that he has no interest in committing America or its allies to another protracted debacle in the Middle East and beyond, such has been seen in the Iraq imbroglio and the Afghan landscape.  So that leaves the 'surgical' alternative: carefully calculated attacks on targets in Damascus designed to deter further weapons offensives and to demoralize the Syrian leadership sufficient to arrest Assad's homicidal acts against the native population.

Will it be enough?  At this stage of this ominous game, we can only wait and see. But if action is not taken, America's message to the world as the only remaining superpower is:  weapons of mass destruction and their utilization by outlaw regimes and/or governments will be tolerated ... because we're all so tired of fighting for the right thing.

And that, dear friends, would be the most tragic thing of all. For it was once said by a poet or some philosopher that evil prevails when good men stand by and decide to do nothing about it....

I would like to believe this is not the tacit mandate for the United States of America. Because, after all - and this is no joke - we're the good guys.  We must act as such, then goodness will continue to be blessed upon us.

On a lighter note, please note my books on Amazon and buy my crap accordingly. 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=george+p+saunders&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Ageorge+p+saunders