The FFL faces possible lockout

Hard to believe that after so many years, the league might remain closed for this upcoming season. Players and team owners scramble at the last minute to come to an agreement in efforts to breathe life into the league.

At the close of last season a large portion of the clubs found their teams in a struggle to keep their teams going. Owners decided to close up and sell the teams off. Now in the closing minutes the league is faced with a deadline of restructure and finding new owners who can come in and take charge and run with things. It's a no huddle kind of situation and time is clicking away fast. It looks like hope is around the corner and we'll have to keep our eyes on the situation.

A mole, a dog, and the kids knocking next door

I'm trying to get some lunch going for the family and my wife said, "the dog is doing something in the backyard". I look up and she calls me outside to look into. She thinks the dog has a mouse.

Crazy looking thing, not what I expected to see and I'm having a hard time telling which end is the head and which is the tail. After researching more later I find out it was a mole.

If only our problem would have ended here. See we need to sweep the whole backyard and make sure its not some poisoned rodents through out the yard. That's when my wife says, "Our neighbors Trojan boxes have been thrown behind the shed".

"What?" trying to process everything, its been so long since I've seen a box of those. Then it hits me and I know what is going on. Flashback weeks to when we had the Tree guy out to give an estimate. He noticed through the fence a couple kids fooling around (during the day I remind you). I thought perhaps I should have said something at that point, but I didn't want to be the guy next door telling on everything I see.

I couldn't let this one go though, mind you at least they are being safe kids, but I don't want the open boxes, wrapper, and yes the goods dumped in my yard. My wife is disgusted, as I, but its out of our hands. The kid next door has told Dad, "it's not me, you know me Dad..." Dad has to believe him as he looks at the hickey on his sons neck. At least I was able to let the family next door know that someone has been getting in their backyard during the day to pass the time. I really feel for the kid next door, someone sure is making him look bad... Yeah RIGHT!!!!

Meerkat Manor - Family Business

So I was sitting in the theater for a free Kids movie and they brought up one of those preview pieces, a behind the scenes sort of thing. The show is Meerkat Manor and it looked cool and I decided to record it for my oldest.

Little did I know that it was a real circle of life kind of show and sad to say some of the little guys get whacked so to speak.


This show is very entertaining and educational. You really find that you want to come back and see what will happen between the Whiskers and the Commandos and which side will win the turf war.


But keep in mind that this is very real and what they do and explain to the young at heart that its how they live and survive. I think you'll be amazed at the quality of filming and how well they weave a story into or interpret the stories for the Meerkat's. The new season has just kicked off this week on Animal Planet.

From Screen writer to Novelist

Well its 3 months away and then I'll take my steps towards my next adventure so to speak. The feeling inside of me to write is hard to explain at times, but its a feeling that I'm enjoying all the same. That being said, the next upcoming contest I'll take part in is called NaNoWriMo and lasts for the whole month of November. During this time, anyone who wants to attempt to write a 50,000 word novel can take part in the free contest.

Yes I'm some what crazy, but I like to think I'm dedicated and will take this challenge head on. I'm not sure how easy this will be and I know the word count is a lot higher, but with out the constraints in formatting a Screenplay, I hope I'll do well and reach my goal.

Just like Script Frenzy, its not about quality as much as quantity in reaching the goal. It's more about being creative and just writing and letting nature take its course. It's all about creating a first draft and then at the end you can look back and edit and rewrite if you so choose. So wish me luck and I'll report back on my progress in November and at the first of December.

As for Script Frenzy, I haven't looked back at my script since I finished it. What I did was send it off to the President of the Dallas Screenwriters Association. He was nice enough to come out and speak to a group of us and reviewed the first 10 pages of our script. Here's a little bit of what he had to say and granted its only the first 10 pages, who knows what he would have thought towards the middle and end.

Hello Robert,

You've written an interesting beginning to a movie. The characters are multi-dimensional and its an interesting premise. I also thought that your basic sense of format was correct, for the most part. The free software that you used has a lot of useful features and I might recommend it to other writers who may not be ready for the industry-standard software.

I've made a few notes on the attached script, which I hope you will find more helpful than critical. Food for thought, but it's your story to do with as you wish. I'd say it's an excellent first draft for your first script. Whether you decide to continue screenwriting or not, realize that you can deliver, if you want to pursue it.

Take care, and good luck with your future writing plans.

Steve Davis
President,
Dallas Screenwriters Association

I was impressed with his feedback and I'm looking forward to next June and perhaps a sequel to my first movie script.