Everyone's Gotta Play Their Own Tomato

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.annointedfig.com/everyones-gotta-play-their-own-tomato/)
Are there rules to a successful engagement?  How about marriage?  What about a freewheeling bachelor life?

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="164" caption="Every man's man -- and definitely, this woman's!"][/caption]

Conceivably.  Self-help gurus may know; not exactly a fan of theirs, I won't speculate.  I am, however -- of CBS's eponymous "Rules of Engagement", in part, perhaps, because it doesn't take it upon itself to preach to me about anything.  A half-hour primetime sitcom, starting its third season March 2nd, it does just what a beast of its nature ought to, according to Patrick Warburton, one of its stars.  It entertains, and does a damn fine job!

A couple of days ago, I was lucky enough to score a one-on-one interview with Patrick, and tell you what, if I wasn't his fan from his Seinfeld and Civilization of Maxwell Bright days, I am now.

The man dished about the perseverance of his show, his views on his character, Jeff, and the limitations of his creative control.  And, I think, he himself is totally enjoying the final product -- which comes out loud and clear in both his performance and his promoting the dickens out of it.

Let's just start from what we're doing here.  Do you enjoy this sort of promotion?  Or would you rather meet your fans and the press face to face? Unless you would rather not do any promotion at all?

Oh, face to face.  I like meeting fans, and I am forever using hand gestures.  But, you know, I guess on the phone, that works, too.

Did you have to think for a while before you accepted the role?  Can you empathize, having been married yourself for the past 18 years?

Well, I did, yes.  When I first read it.  Because, you know, it would be like, why would I want to be playing myself?  I was lucky to play The Tick, and that's...completely different.  A lot of acting, getting in character.  But here, you know, I am playing someone married for the last 14years.  But I sat down with the producers, and I see they have a great team in place.  So, we gave it a try.  And it's good, there're definitely things working.  It's gotten funnier, now, too, so, it's moving in the right direction creatively, I think.

Speaking of creative direction, can you tell me if there are any plans to keep the show past Season 3?

Sure, we already sat down with CBS folks.  Wasn't an easy run, you know.  1st season, we only put in 7 episodes.  Came in as the mid-season replacement.  In the 2nd season, the writer's strike.  Messed things up, but what can you do?  Now, this year, we're also coming in mid-season.  But we think, Season 4 is going to be the first full one.  So, yes, we're going along.  Definitely very positive here.

Are things going to be happening with the show?  What can we expect?


Our engaged couple's set a wedding date.  So, there would be things, you know, stemming from that.  It's definitely sharp, funny.  And you know, we aren't a drama show, not a soap.  It's a half-hour sitcom, things don't really have to change.  You don't much change characters that are working, you just use them creatively, put them in engaging dialogs.  People like to get to know whom they are watching, relate to them.  And, of course, you know, with the married couple, and the young couple, and David's [Spade] character, who is a bachelor, everyone can find somebody they can empathize with.  It's like with Seinfeld.  It's entertainment.  People liked coming week to week to characters they got to know.  They might not be all that nice, but they were familiar, and likable, and that's what made it work.

Do you get to have creative input?


Sure, there's some ad-libbing, everyone does that.  And I always say, if I think something's not working.  Something doesn't ring true, we can scrape it.  But once it's finalized, the writers finished their work, that's it, everyone's in sync.  Too many cooks stirring the pot, we don't have that, there's creative unity, so we can put the best episode out we can.

Is there a direction you think the show could go in with your character, but it choosing not to?

Not really.  We're all trying things, thinking about things.  No need in stretching the boundaries.  We have ways to go with every character yet.

What is your dream role?  What about a favorite one?  Do you like the familiarity of working for a long-running project?

Well, favorite, so far - Maxwell Bright.  That was ranging out the furthest from, basically, the comfort zone.  That's a challenge.  It's good to have a challenge.  I don't have that [often] in TV, I haven't had a single lead in an hour-drama, not one.  I haven't even been asked.  Come on, Lisa, I am sure you have a script you would like [produced]... that wasn't understood?  Once you get put in a box.  But that's OK.  Did you know, Hoffman played a tomato?  Everyone's gotta play their own tomato.  And you know, my movies, Woman Chaser, Dish, Maxwell, I don't know if you've seen them, they were all critically acclaimed in different ways.  That was good.  Good scripts, interesting takes.  I like challenging myself.  I am always looking for something new.

Something new?  You should check out Lombardi Street, the new show I am working on.  Their working policy is to give everyone a chance, and the start of your talents would be a shoo-in.  Yes, yes, I'm pimping.


[Laughs] Maybe, I will.

And I guess it wouldn't be a Patrick Warburton interview if I didn't ask about Puddy.  I wasn't going to bring him up, but we did talk Seinfeld.  Do you still enjoy the Puddy fame?  I understand during an advertisement for Rules of Engagement in 2007 during an NFL football broadcast, people started yelling out your Seinfeld character's name.

Yes, funny how it happened.  I only did nine episodes as Elaine's boyfriend.  But the character, he's iconic.  And, definitely, the show.  My grandkids are gonna watch reruns when they are home sick from school.  I used to watch shows like that sick from school.

Andy Griffith and the like?

Yeah, like those.  Like I said, some shows endure.  Seinfeld's like that.

-------

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="237" caption="Tickled Blue!"][/caption]

And that brings us to the end of my all-to0-short tete-a-tete.  There were more questions to ask, but I did learn the gist of the matter.  Patrick's character might be an occasionally gruff overbearing guy, but the real Patrick, even happily married, shouldn't complain, he still has to act.  He's way more gracious than his on-screen persona.

It's my Party...

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.annointedfig.com/its-my-party/)




I am Lisa, this here blog's writer, and I am a foodie.

There, I said it, and no, I am not feeling relieved.  I love food. I cook, I like dining out, I like giving everything a fair chance (which, however, emphatically does not extend to vanilla or whatever-flavored oatmeal variants.  So, I'm a hypocrite.  At least, I'm not a closet one, that's gotta count for something).

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="216" caption="These are my skinny jeans."][/caption]

To make the intro complete, I eat healthy, exercise (eh, do my best, let's put it that way) -- and I'm a female, 5'9", 190lbs, wear anything between medium and extra large, and know what, I'm no Angelina Jolie (my brood, for instance, is limited to one 13-months old bandit), but damn, I think I'm fine.

Which I suppose may be exactly the problem.

On one hand, psychiatry preaches mental health lies in sticking to how one sees oneself, and damn the rest of the populace, what do they know?  On another hand, it is, by now, a truism that only the mad have the sheer audacity to espouse their own unassailable sanity.

That said, let’s segue back to the food. Rather, to the dread eating disorders, or EDs, the bane of parents everywhere. They are a dime a dozen these days, and if there’s ever a time when languishing in the supermarket checkout lane, I don’t see a photo spread of a celebrity suffering from, recovering from, vehemently denying – or, in fact, outright accused of not indulging in, ha, it’s a shopping trip wasted.

How are we to see ourselves when it really comes down to…er, seeing ourselves? Really looking at ourselves in the mirror – and in the eye, and honestly assessing if we are who we need to be, where we need to be, and not just weight wise.  That is, after all, what ED treatments are all about.

Eating disorders are likened to abusive relationships. They play havoc with your mind and health – but they, also, make life easier, in the short term. There’s no need to go out and find friends, you’re either feeling too bad, or you’re preoccupied (feeding an eating disorder, pardon the pun, does take a lot of of you), or, from experience, you just know they wouldn’t understand when you could do with some exercise, or purging, or binge eating. There’s no need to ask yourself what you’re going to have when waiters are assaulting you with leather-bound menus. The answer’s obvious, if you had your way - nothing, nada (possibly, ice water, though it does make you swell up, so, on the second hand, just ice cubes, thank you, such a hot day out). There’s no need to wonder what to do with a bonus paycheck. Why, upgrade your membership at a local gym, buy another box of laxatives, maybe, another tape measure (for the glove compartment – emergencies happen). Depending on income, you may even afford a new elliptical machine for that cozy little nook right underneath a basement window – behind the treadmill, bike, trampoline, a gymnastic ball, and a souped-up hula-hoop with metal bumps on the inner edge to bruise your abdomen into contracting.

Simple, isn’t it – letting go of everything, shedding, at least, some responsibility for your mistakes, for your less than ideal self-image – yet enforcing your own will, too, putting your enslaved foot down. “ It’s my party, I’ll DIE if I want, DIE if I want to…”, there’s a little something there, you gotta admit.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="216" caption="Taking a bite out of you health."][/caption]

And speaking of which – partying, I mean – let me introduce you to the relative block newcomers. A more prominent of the three - drinkorexia - a folklore kind of term that is taking a Webster-dictionary wielding crowd by storm, riding the coattails of such questionable icons as Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Amy Winehouse. Particularly prominent among women aged between 18 and 25, with whom partying hard and staying skinny at all cost are often raisons d’etre, thus far, it hasn’t been designated an official medical term and like with any ED, those practicing it never admit to a shred of wrongdoing.

Mind, some of the metabolisms in question might be really THAT good (which, from early Lohan roles just ain’t altogether likely), but every single one is wearing size 0. They had better. Should anyone THINK of graduating to an unwieldy size 2, oh, that’s it, the hunt’s on, the press’s a-baying.

So, how does the rest keep themselves to where if photographed from the side, they run the risk of fading out completely – considering, they do publicly drink, and booze does come with calories, though not of a very beneficial kind? Well, I'll just leave that to your all’s puerile imaginations. They won’t disappoint. Promise?

Oh, OK, I’ll slip a mickey…er, I meant, a little tidbit. Alcohol -> empty stomach -> severe stomach ulceration -> evacuation from either end -> liver on the fast train up the shitcreek. Enough inspiration?

Another new kid on the pro-Ana websites (it’s a lifestyle, not a disorder, MY AUNT FANNY) is the beast recently christened orthorexia by an actual MD and referring to an out of control fixation on healthy eating. In this one instance of ED, it strikes boys almost as often as girls and in the stronger sex, is commonly associated with BDD, body dysmorphic disorder, where a victim focuses on the entire body or even a part as something they, delusionally or not, consider detrimental to his or her appearance. In an interview with Dr. Phil McGraw, one mother described how her son would altogether refuse food if at breakfast, she accidentally allowed a droplet of yolk to so much as color her son’s egg whites.

Finally, it wouldn't be the Century of the Fruitbat...er, 21st, sorry, if there wasn't some weight manipulation (read: enforced loss) done entirely via self-medication.  Specifically, on not using enough medication.  More specifically, yet, insulin.  Enter diabulimia, a tool of choice for teen girls in treatment for type 1 diabetes.  Mostly, it is the same self-administered cycle of abuse in play, but now it masquerades as flipping the bird to their diabetes.  The isolating, inconvenient, often debilitating disease ceases being their cross.  For the diabulemic, it is seen to be overpowered, remade into a weapon, the one he or she wields, and if the stakes are even greater than with a less easily concealable ED, well, the payoff is, also, much higher.

Plus, of course, bigorexia, pica, Prader-Willi Syndrome. Those, and the perpetual crowd pleasers, the flagships of the ED fleet, bulimia and anorexia nervosa.

These days, they are everywhere, as commonplace as compressed lungs and broken ribs enlivening the stately crinoline era. Then, there was that pressure to conform; perforated stomachs, miscarriages, internal bleeds notwithstanding, corsets ruled – and people died. But, at least, they did so looking perfect.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="167" caption="May we too be victorious. Godspeed."][/caption]

Today, young people are dying, too, and the media is right there helping them on their merry way. After all, first it gets to criticize their weight, then act all properly horrified – and finally, for a good long time (on those slow news days), sympathize with the bereaved kin. Triple whammy!

So, me, I call on the bloggers, and news editors, and fashion mavens, and Hollywood directors du jour – and most of all, on you, you healthy 5’-something 150+ lbs fatsos (or 6' slender magnificent reeds, but naturally so, and more power to ya!), let’s just see what we can do to completely eradicate the very need for the pro-Ana sites on our world wide web!

Easy as Pee!

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.annointedfig.com/easy-as-pee/)
A roommate had a knee replacement.  In constant pain, like he was forever on the verge of passing a kidney stone, the man had been on the fence for yeah-many months.  For just as many of those, he'd been bitching, so, I took the damn thing in my own hands, i.e., found a doctor, squared it away with his insurance, and voila, easy as pee, the man had a partial knee.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="120" caption="A light at the end of the tunnel"][/caption]

The piss wouldn't come.  Apparently, in newly catheterized men, it can happen.  He shouldn't worry, all sorts out naturally, wouldn't you know?  How would you feel, all blase?

He would stand over the pot, straining, and I would be listening through the heavy hospital door.  No cigar!  We tried the old hand in the warm water trick.  Nothing.  Enter a more direct application of water to the spout itself.  Not even close!  The poor guy drank like a Bedouin camel fresh from a Safari jaunt.  Not even a flicker of an idea anywhere below the belt.  He even took a shower, thought expressly forbidden, his cut-up knee sticking out over the rim.  Not a chance!

Fresh from his surgery, he spent the better part of the next 24 hours trying.  Who woulda thunk how much I would miss that little tinkling sound?  And in light of it sorta being my fault...

Discharged now, cue continued trying.  Then, straight cath to drain the bladder distended to what the home care nurse said was a good 72-hour output.  Straight cath meaning a quick in and out, the wham-bam-thank you, ma'am, if you're into gory details.

More frigging trying.  More cath.  An emergency room.  A urologist visit.  Another ER trip.  A few uncertain drops making it out.  For volume measurement, piss being collected in the toilet brush bowl, one without a lid.  Did I mention the situation stank?

A permanent catheter put in to get the bladder down from where it got distended and now exhibiting the tendencies of a lazy relation mooching off a softhearted retiree.

Knee exercises a requirement at that point, they put a damn new meaning into jumping through hoops -- or, at least, over a catheter leash.

Another trip to a urologist on the far side of town.  Catheter out (about time, it being 3 days).  Da nada!  Zilch, for my non-Spanish speaking groupies.  A urologist visit.  Catheter in again, and hello, Thanksgiving weekend!  As you can imagine, a gravy boat-full to celebrate.  Or, rather, there was -- a more portable, even more permanent catheter.  Stop by after the holidays, and enjoy your Flomax and turkey!  Your prostate is losing its youthful figure, but you don't need a surgery, not yet, just check out this photograph obtained...yep, through more straight catherizations.  The one immediately proceeding the permanent cath.

The man's Thanksgiving came later.  6 days later, to be exact.  That very permanent catheter was out.

New batch of free-flowing piss started making it into a toilet brush bowl.  And the output left some to be desired.  But it was there, which yet another urologist visit proved via their benighted ultrasound.

And then, that sound resumed, the audible kind, the one I was actually missing (no, not a golden shower fan, thanks very much).  The melody of piss tinkling into a toilet bowl, hitting the water with a crystalline tone of a self-assured stream, the droplets drying on the black lacquer toilet seat into lemony polka dots.

I used to rage.  Used to demand the guy, at least, get the toilet seat UP, like a normal male persuasion pig, don't splatter the thing.

I am doing it, again, on the eve of the man's well-check urologist visit.  In fact, I will be doing it just as soon as I wash the seat clean and use it myself.  Well, I will as soon as he wakes up, because it is 2 in the AM, and I like my victim lively when I go all nuclear on their chauvinist ass.

But just then, for a few weeks following Thanksgiving, the man had a carte blanche.  I was too enjoying the sweet song of piss flowing free.

And now, let me post-face.  This ain't a Flomax commercial.  I am not even sure that is what specifically helped.  But it was there, as were the urologist, the nurses, the concerned surgeon, the toilet brush bowl, the re-baptized toilet, the catheters, the turkey, the...  So, everyone, please, take a bow!

H

Veg Recollections

(My Original Blog Post: -*http://www.annointedfig.com/veg-recollections/)
The very first vegan I ran into was my high school English teacher, and back then, I have to admit I just didn't understand the lifestyle.  Nor did I ever go to the trouble of trying.  A lot of it, certainly, had to do with my unwavering belief in supremacy of everything not in the roasted chicken, macaroni cheese, and fruit salad food groups enjoying no basic right to culinary existence.  But it is, unfortunately, true that a lot my early antagonism stemmed from the personality of the vegan in question.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="192" caption="Hey, kids! How 'bout another Big Mac?"][/caption]

Only a decade later -- and I now realize measuring an entire lifestyle choice by a single practitioner is...well, abominably stupid.  Better later than never, some would say, and yes, they would be right.  But that was high school.

In college, studying health sciences, I learned the intricacies of bad cholesterol and good, of triglycerides derived from different food sources, of atherosclerosis contributing to the skyrocketing rates of heart disease here in the US -- and of inherent dangers and surprising benefits of raw, vegan, vegetarian, no-carb -- and fully integrated omnivorous diets.  There's latter in every one -- just as there is a former (these, mostly from uninformed food choices and bad decisions made by every slice of our foodie spectrum).  I suppose the only type of diet I would these days condemn off the bet would be a supersized Big Mac one.

Which brings me to Supersize Me, a single most illustrative (if somewhat preachy and pseudo-scientific) demonstration of what it is to live on clean, self-sustained cuisine vs. the self-indulgent God-knows-what-they-put-in-it dietary school of thought of a rather prominent chunk of American population.

Certainly, it bears to be said the sacrifices Morgan Spurlock went to are obvious to an even unconverted carnivore, but the movie's relevance to the vegan lifestyle lies actually in what was practically a movie's afterword.  Once Mr. Spurlock's self-appointed month was through and his vitals ascertained to be all over the place (which is a tad surprising, considering his binging hadn't lasted that long, though I am not at all disputing the validity of the findings), what did he turn to to detox?  And what actually helped?

You guessed it, the tasty and cleansing fare as prepared by his girlfriend, Alexandra Jamieson, the longsuffering vegan chief.

She didn't nag him (at least, not on camera), didn't quote him statistics to the tune of 40% decrease in heart-related deaths for those, practicing vegetarianism.  That glaring difference being further enhanced by purely vegan choices, not to mention the decreased incidence of colon and lung cancer, kidney and gallstones, diabetes, and even later-life sexual dysfunction, she would have had plenty of ammunition.  She didn't use it.

What she did was prepare him a going-away-to-fight-the-devils-of-consumerism feast -- and a purifying post-experiment regimen to gently get him back down from his perpetual sugar high and unclog the arteries unused to the onslaught of saturated fats.

Of course, that a man used to vegan cuisine responded so beautifully to reentering his comfort zone isn't much of a shocker, but that his is only one example of vegan detox and that it works just as well for those heretofore completely unexposed to this lifestyle, is.

As things currently stand, I am neither a vegetarian nor a red-meat-gobbling carnivore, but will I ever scoff at vegan food choices again?  I can safely say, never.

10 Questions to Ask a New Media Mogul (if you happened to corner one in a dark alleyway)

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.annointedfig.com/10-questions-to-ask-a-new-media-mogul-if-you-happened-to-corner-one-in-a-dark-alleyway/)
Me, I had it easy. Today, entirely via e-mail, I had the chance to pick the brain of a very curious cat –- an enigmatic new media pioneer, who, true to his (or her) milieu, thus far is remaining stubbornly anonymous behind their online avatar. Putting the "new" into New Media, this individual, known only as “Project Manager” or "AvZ,” plays a key role in bringing together the talent, funding, and direction behind an ambitious crossover Internet + Television show with the working title of Lombardi Street.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="216" caption="Kick your old habit for a new one."][/caption]

Integrating publicity via virtual platforms, top of the line editing equipment, fan participation in the creation of a big-budget serialized show, and simultaneous release of the content through both the Web and regular TV makes Lombardi Street a rather different animal from the typical fare. The line between fans and the show's creators is blurred, as is that between the real world and that of the fictional characters and their nearest, dearest, and most hated. The glue connecting all these previously distant concepts is this newfangled thing known as the Internet, which for many of us has become quite the second life.

“Never follow the straight and narrow,” is the chosen slogan, and indeed, “Project Manager” stays true to these words, as do members of the writing team, drafted from the very same community of fans that follow the show's development. Constant vetting of creative talent keeps the cream of the crop behind the reigns and in front of the camera, and keeps the focus on the show's complex characters, not on plot-driven writing.

And now, let's get to the meat of this interview...

You mentioned countless cups of coffee as an inspiration. Where did you drink it? Whom with? Basically, do you have a big team in place or are you going it solo? How exactly did the concept come to be?

There has been a great deal of speculation as to who I am and/or we are. The reason that this is not revealed is rather simple. Most new shows flow from the top-down creating assumptions and expectations before even beginning the exploration of the project. If I were Stephen Bochco [writer and producer of NYPD Blue], there would be expectations entered before we begin.

If I were Robert Smith form Portland, Maine — the same thing — only with different expectations. The more important part of this question is how did this come to be. We have entered a whole new world of communication and personal reach, enabled by the Internet. This reach has opened every small corner of the globe and we wanted to insure that it reached into our industry — which is ripe for change.

What exactly is the main thrust of Lombardi Street, making it in the entirely transparent style or preparing it mainly for multimedia field. Are you planning to bypass television?

The primary point of Lombardi Street is to entertain. This is first and foremost a show that we anticipate will entertain its audience. The transparent style is in part based on the concept of entertaining and in part based on the need to bring the secrets of the industry to light. We do not operate in a vacuum; people want to know about the actors, the writers and more, so rather than having it appear in outside Web sites and magazines, we provide it here.

We do not intend to bypass television, but we also do not see it as the only presentational medium. We intend to have this show broadcast traditionally worldwide, but also intend to release it first on the Web. It is my firm belief that in the very near future, viewers will be watching Web-distributed shows on their regular televisions though the use of some new device that facilitates that, as well as watching on handheld (mobile) devices and PCs.

I know it has been answered to an extent in the writer's group, but for the benefit of the public, what is the proposed rating for the program? Or are you going the NR route?

We have not set, and will not set a rating. Life is not rated, neither is the show. The general production will be kept to the norms and conforms of society; however, there will be threads that expand well beyond that. They will be clearly labeled but available for viewing. This show is intended for young adults and up and we will adhere to the standards of the global collective.

Do you have funding already to the tune of $35 mil/year, which you are bringing up on the site, or are you counting on getting it once the word of mouth spreads across the Web and, possibly, the print editions?

We do not have $35 million. We do have investors, advertisers and others that will allow us to start this show, but, again, like any venture this must appeal to the public and draw an audience which will allow the funding, both from investors and advertisers to grow. The $35mm is the anticipated budget for the production for its first year.



[caption id="attachment_388" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Never follow the straight and narrow."][/caption]

Your writers are all from over the place, and talent and directors are ranging even further. How do you intend to get them in one place? Relocation packages? Trips on-location? Or are you going to be doing this solely on the Web? How about a chemistry test, for instance? What if the actors ultimately chosen do well on their own, but lack that spark together that makes them a "supercouple"?

Many production positions can be handled remotely and will be done that way; however, while the technology facilitates long distance communication, it will never replace face to face interaction. Actors will all undergo screen tests and will be required to read with other candidates exactly to determine on screen chemistry. Writers will collaborate online but will still have to attend regular in person meetings and workshops. We have opened all positions to anyone globally and will select them based on talent, individual capability and perseverance. When filming begins, we will work with individuals to insure that they are where they need to be, whatever those requirements are.

On the topic of actors, do you mean to use any established talent or draw solely from those registered to the site? What if, say, Jessica Alba registers, would she be in the running? Or are you focusing on undiscovered actors for the time being? Same for directors, etc.

This has been a very hard fought answer. We have developed a policy that ALL personnel for Lombardi Street will come from the Web site. Selections will be based on individual participation and collective response to the Web-based activity. That will include even Jessica Alba. We do believe that talent is everywhere and that only the smallest portion ever has the opportunity to get discovered. Hopefully, Lombardi Street will change part of that by opening opportunity to all, even those who are already famous.

How do you intend to advertise on the show? During commercial breaks? Or via product placement? Or do you mean to do the adverts on the Micro-net once you extend the universe out beyond the filmed segments?

Advertising is an integral part of Lombardi Street. There will be sponsor pre-rolls on the web video and extensive product placement. Broadcast shows will probably have standard ads. The Web site will include banner ads and a new form of non intrusive pull-based advertising. One of the primary differences is that we will not attempt to hide or sneak in advertising. There will be product placement on the show, but rather than a hidden ad, we will laud and fete the support of the advertiser on the Web site, as well as show exactly how well the advertiser supported the show. We believe that if you like the show and the advertiser helps keep the show alive, then you will in turn appreciate the advertiser for its support. Open, honest and upfront.

How happy are you so far with how this thing is going? I notice you're beating your own estimates as far as signing up goes. How big do you envision your community growing before the show?

Lombardi Street in the Web is not quite a month old. It has surpassed expectations and we anticipate continued growth, but have not placed any specific milestones in place. Our advertisers and sponsors have key points which dictate the level of payment and we know the more members, the easier the continual quest for revenue will be. For me, a key indicator is not how many people we have when the first episode airs, but what the growth is once it is running.

Which brings me to, when do you think to start filming and then release it to the public?

Filming will begin in late August and the first show is to be released mid-September. It is a short turnaround, but this show is meant to be based on life, so we intend to bring real live events into the production in as real a time frame as possible. In addition, because of the unique nature of the integration with the audience through the Web site, we have designed the show to be responsive to the audience, not driven by it, but responsive. We anticipate extensive use of technology to shorten the time between filming and presentation.



[caption id="attachment_389" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Meet "Project Manager". Really."][/caption]

And, finally, is there a chance to see the man or woman behind the mask? Who are you, a writer, producer, director, Web junkie? All of the above? Are you yourself planning to contribute to the show other than through overall direction?

Yes. I very much look forward to the day that I get to personally meet the fascinating people that have begun participating on this site. Who am I? All of the things you said. A writer, a producer, a director and a web junkie. And yes, I firmly intend to contribute to the show directly, but not as a dictator. I have found a remarkable volume of prodigious talent exists in this world and I am thrilled to be a part of what we get to uncover and present.

----

I found our question and answer session with the mysterious “Project Manager” informative, and I hope you did, too. Lombardi Street truly brings television fans around the world together in not just enjoying a great show, but also participating in its creation; thus, anyone in its growing online community can be considered as a potential team member.

If you think I was just a tad biased, being a member of the writing team myself, well, I quite possibly am guilty as charged. It's not every day I can connect with all my fellow fans and creative minds around the world, much less shape the way the show develops!

I look forward to hearing from you all what you think about this new way of doing television, and what other questions you might like answered before Lombardi Street goes live, both in your living room and a global, virtual world that many of us call our second home.

Open Up and Let Me In - Transparency in the War on Terror

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.annointedfig.com/open-up-and-let-me-in-transparency-in-the-war-on-terror/)
Is there room for total disclosure when the stakes are this high? Is this the answer to the conflict, or merely more fuel for the fire?

We need openness, communication...don't we?  How are we to build a relationship -- or, for that matter, anything of value -- on lies?

[caption id="attachment_349" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Oh, honey, you lost weight!"][/caption]

But if you're a guy, and your girl has scrounged up on a new 1st anniversary dress, and you think it makes her butt look like it's grown a Volkswagen Beetle, will you tell her?  What if you're a wife, and your mother-in-law is a preachy twit who only flies in once a year for your daughter's birthday, are you going to corner her sniffing roses in your slightly overgrown backyard and make her SEE she just ain't welcome?

No, certainly, these are unfair questions to ask.  We MUST have transparency, so you would be brutally honest... NOT!   Well, some of us might -- and some wouldn't even entertain the notion.  But the point is, if we look one step ahead of where we are, of what we might poised on the brink of, it has a potential of changing our course.  Think before you step, right?

So, SHOULD we think before opening a can of wildly copulating worms that is Gitmo / Abu Ghraib / put-in-your-US-concentration-camp-of-choice?  Should we do some private housecleaning of those ultimately responsible for the failed policies while simply letting the detainees go, providing them and their families with lifetime psychiatric help (THAT ought to come out a doozy), and shelling out a hefty hush-hush fee.  Call it pain and suffering comp.  All politically correct and, mostly, no one the wiser.

See, I received a few thought-provoking comments yesterday, and the tattletale that I am, I can't wait to share them with the class.

First feedback...well, I guess, I already did.  See, can't keep my mouth shut, what did I tell you?  Certain someone I spoke to claims that the less visibility the ghost detainees now enjoy, the more peace the coming few years are liable to bring.  Why give anyone even more ideas, they say?  Why breed discontent, mistrust, outright hatred for a country that did already switch its course?  Why facilitate the birthing of a new generation of hotheads (from either end of political spectrum) by pointlessly publicizing the abuse some don't believe in -- and others would be willing to die for and kill to avenge?  Shouldn't we let sleeping dogs lie while not just avowing, but also demonstrating the resolve in our current intentions?

To which my gut reaction was - ...but the honesty, the change, the promises we accepted -- and made, the spirit of Democracy, the due process, the...   However, and I emphasize, that was my GUT reaction.  Just, unfortunately, as it had been the gut reactions of those that actually instituted the horrors.  Did they THINK of what would be lying ahead, would the waterboarding have ever made to the very top of the CNN-FOX-HUFFINGTON POST Billboards?

When questioned by BBC Hardtalk's Tim Sebastian on whether he was prepared to blow himself up in Palestine, Dr. Azzam Tamimi (spokesman for Muslim Association of Britain [MAB] and head of London's Institute of Islamic Political Thought) replied: "If I can go to Palestine and sacrifice myself I would do it. Why not?" What scares me is hundreds, even thousands, with the similar lines of thought.  We did make sure to provide plenty of fuel to the whole "Westerners are EEEEEVIL" selling point without dipping into our can of worms.  Now, out of those thousands, most will continue sitting on their hands and grouch, something like "if I could do this, and this, and that, oh, I would, sure, you can believe it, but me, I can't, I'm too important, I'm needed too much, so, you know, I just can't.  But I can sure cheer from the sidelines".

Unfortunately, for every hundred VIPs, there will be one, or two, or...well, I guess the ultimate harvest will depend on just how well we'll fertilize that ground...who will NOT stumble through the stock response.  They will just run for political office and become the new Ismail Haniyeh, an embattled ex-Prime Minister of Palestine Authority still exercising prime ministerial authority in the Gaza Strip.  Or they can just pick up a pilot's license and fly a plane at...well, sky literally is the limit.  Or they can far less glamorously blow themselves up and take a couple of kids, a few kosher-chicken lugging grandmas, and a score of their own brothers in faith making their living on the infidel market right along with them.

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And so, it brings me right back to that Restaurant at the End of the Universe.  One step, and the gameworld changes.  Did people in power think, truly think of what their decisions may usher?  Not even will, MAY.  And isn't the very possibility already too much?  Or did they react -- out of the very best, although misguided, intentions, greed, our countrywide certainty that because it suits us, it surely is on the side of the angels?

And if react they did, do we -- now, picking our tattered pride out of the ashes of global firestorms that is our failing economy, mind-boggling deficit, shaky relations with the famished Russian bear, Al Qaeda leaders still roaming free and thus handily winning our self-styled war on terror -- have the luxury of doing the same?

Crickets chirping.  An empty beggar's cup.

Anyone, please, anyone, throw your 2 cents in?  Me, I'm all out.

But I do have a new piece of information thanks to another responder that has given me hope as nothing had in quite a while.

You see, I just found out about Ed Husain, otherwise known as Ghaffar Hussain, a British national, a former radical Islamist, and now -- a head of Quilliam Foundation, a respected UK think tank seeking to combat extremism (which it calls a terrorism precursor) and made up of...no, can't say it better than it had itself, so, I'll just let it introduce itself, shall I?  "...our founders are former leading ideologues of UK-based extremist Islamist organizations – organizations that are still active today".  So, how d'you like them apples?

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" mentality is what he blames for the rise and, indeed, continued existence of radical Islamism. By having a  "foe in western capitalism, which it can conveniently blame for all of the world's ills", it's flourishing -- and picking up support in the unlikeliest places.  This is basically a gist of the man's own op-ed piece.

A similar reasoning comes through loud and clear in Husain's latest interview with Salon's Yassin Musharbash and highlights, to me, anyway, that there is in fact a solution other than the escalating war on terror -- or the encroaching Jew-loving West, or whatever it is the ideologues from either side will undoubtedly call it.  But before the Koran, and Bible, and Torah-justified healing can begin, must there be a blanket blank slate or a no-holds-barred, no-relationship-is-pure-without-one, uncompromising disclosure?

[caption id="attachment_353" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Stop pestering me! Gotta assertain my position."][/caption]

There are certainly pros and cons for either path, opinions are like holes stuffed with multitude of donkeys, but, hey, at least, in this case, I CAN BE SURE mine don't stink - for now, I just don't think I'm ready to have one.

Wall Street Bull Ousted. Can We Bear it?

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.annointedfig.com/wall-street-bull-ousted-can-we-bear-it/)

This is bull!

The Wall Street Bull, and, yes, that's me, taking it by the horns -- and hoping it doesn't turn into a bear mid-bonding.

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How many times have we heard of it, saw it, fondled its rump? And how many of those times have we been silently comforted by its immutable bulk signaling these few city blocks’ importance to the global markets?

Not so much these days. The much-touted Stimulus Bill is finally signed into law – and yet, as the stocks are at their lowest in the last 5 years, the oil is unexpectedly up, dollar back in its nosedive, and unemployment benefits hovering at 5 million claims, give or take, the public, according to an Associated Press – GfK poll, is growing increasingly concerned about losing jobs, not having enough money to pay the bills, and seeing their retirement accounts shrink.

Small wonder then, that NYC is a global economic capital no longer. According to the leading experts, the bulk of stock trading is slowly but surely trickling out of Wall Street to pool in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong. The best in the foreign currency exchange have for a long time now been found during London trading. Some of it is attributable to our current economic chaos, but given many first-world countries suffering the same, it would be merely a pat response, not an altogether true one.

More, the same experts predict that even once US economy stabilizes, Wall Street bull shouldn’t count on resuming the lead. Best it could hope for is remaining competitive in the herd of its fast-emerging contenders.  Not an altogether comforting thought, in fact, not at all.  But, perhaps, one that would spur it on.  Horses are said to do marvelously under a whip, perhaps, so do the bulls?

PS.  Just so we're clear, if I saw it happen in my immediate vicinity to a non-metal beast, the rider had better have a substitute at home, because the one I'll be getting my hands on will be SO getting broken.