Friday, December 11, 2009

job search/ Teen Mom/ comedy rules

Dec.8 Job search: I picked up a new issue of Job Classified. Did you know that Save on Foods has benefits like medical and dental? It's filled with jobs I don't care about, but at least some interesting articles. I went to Matrikon.ca, it's with oil and gas. They only have one job posting in Edmonton for being a manager, and I don't qualify.

I deleted that bookmark. I emailed 4 production companies, and emailed 1 resume to the Citadel.

News: I read on Yahoo that CBS will be canceling the soap opera As the World Turns after 54 years. CBS canceled Guiding Light 3 months ago after 72 years (57 on TV. Prior to that, they were on the radio.) CBS still has The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful.

Teen Mom: I am totally overdosing. Not only am I reading 16 and Pregnant on twop.com, MTV is debuting the new show Teen Mom which is a spinoff about 4 of the 6 profiled in the first show. They're also airing True Life "I'm Pregnant" in 5 min so I have to watch that too. At least I'm avoiding Secret Life of the American Teenager on Muchmusic, only because I've seen those eps. TL is about 2 young women who are adults who got pregnant, and are staying with their boyfriends.

I don't know why I'm obsessed with this topic. It's like how Patrick is obsessed about gambling and lotteries. He doesn't gamble, he just reads books about it, watch the TLC show about winning the lottery. He does like to watch card games on TV even though it's on a fictional show Lie to Me.

Dec. 9 Research: I was going through my bookmarks that I created when I was deleting my MacEwan emails. I deleted that Matrikon bookmark because there was only 1 job posting and I didn't fit it. Have you ever heard of Alberta Union of Provincial Employees? There weren't any jobs on that site.

Have you ever heard of Alberta Public Research Group? It's for students and located at the University of Alberta. The job posting said it starts working from Dec.7.

Have you ever heard of International Association of Business Communicators? There are lots of job postings in Canada and the US. It's mainly for people with a business degree.

Funny: I decided to be more proactive. Yesterday I emailed John Kerr: "You don't call, you don't write, I was beginning to think you were seeing other writers. Just kidding." I got that line from CSI: NY where Det. Flack (Eddie Cahill) was talking to a criminal. He says "detectives" where "writers" is.

I then called him today and asked if he read the monthly email that says: "Have you read the changes yet?" I told him I'm working on the rewrite.

Business: This is unintentionally funny. I went to downtown to drop off my resume at Western Canadian Bank. Then I checked out that new restaurant that sells healthy food. Good atmosphere, prices seem kind of high.

Then I checked out the Book Outlet store. There is this letter on the window that the store has closed down since November because the store hasn't been paying rent worth $40,000. I've been there a couple of times. They sell books at discount prices, but the books are new and not used like the Wee Book Inn.

That kind of reminds me of that Chinese butcher shop that closed down for awhile because the food inspectors shut it down. The lesson is play by the rules, or you'll get remanded for it and be humiliated. I remember talking to the owner at the bookstore, and he said only three people work there.

Comedy rules: Comedy can break rules on believability and repetitiveness. You can be unbelievable and repetitive in this genre. On SNL, they were doing a sketch about selling porcelain fountains. They said "porcelain fountains" a dozen times in this 4min sketch. That's okay, because they were trying to be funny.

I remember way back in 2002, I heard the SNL sketch with Tobey McGuire where they used the phrase "simma down now." They said that a dozen times too. Unlike Secret Life of the American Teenager where they repeat one or two words like 30 times in one episode. They weren't trying to be funny, so it's poor writing.

I remember also in 2002, I was watching the British boy band Five interview. Rich was trying to be funny by phrasing the question by repeating when the single and the album is going to be released multiple times. I thought it was funny, but the other members Abs and J didn't laugh.

Abs (to Rich): Why did you say that? You know they're just going to edit it out.
Well they didn't edit it out, because I the viewer got to see it.

Dec. 10 Confess: Yesterday when I got back home, I got a message from the call centre saying that I could come in at 3pm and work. I didn't. Yesterday we left early because there wasn't any work. They canceled our shift today.

Instead I stayed at home and watched Gossip Girl, CSI: NY, Glee, and Criminal Minds. They were all new episodes. I could go to work, but my life revolves around TV. Look, at least I'm not staying home to watch bad daytime talk shows like Dr. Phil and Maury. That's some progress.

On Mon. and Tues., they cut our shifts short. Then next week I only work 12hrs. Now I feel really guilty for not picking up that shift. Will this be the last time I put TV in front of work? Well having fun, does make me want to put more energy into my job search later.

Writing: Today I spent a good 1hr and 40min working on my script. I wrote down all the rewrites I made and to what scenes, and what pages. That phone call to John Kerr kind of motivated me.

Dec. 11: Yesterday I also managed to not read anything about 16 and Pregnant. That's discipline.

Saying: The old saying: "The grass is greener on the other side." I got the call centre job that I've wanted, and it pays $12, so that's good. They don't give me a lot of hours. I still want to work at the Soup place. It's because when I worked there during the week, I felt overworked because they really needed another person there.

Now that I'm gone, they have two people there, and they rarely even need anymore. I don't get paid a lot at the Soup place, but at least I got guaranteed hours there.

Castle: It was funny when I saw this show. This actor comes on, and my sister and I both recognized him at the same time.

Me: Ah! Riley from Buffy!
S: Yeah, Marc Blucas.

In the episode, MB's character doesn't have his memory. I was so guessing that MB was the guy who did it. Well it's always the big name actor who did it when they guest- star on shows like Law and Order: SVU and CSI: NY. Then it turns out I was wrong!

I will give points to Castle for being creative on that part. I was right about the gun being planted in MB's place. Same goes for the dead guy who was married to two women episode, and it was different from CSI: NY's two episodes where they had two similar story lines.

I will also give points for one time Castle did an ep where one of the group of teenage friends committed a crime. On The Mentalist, the whole group of teenage friends committed the crime.

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