New Judy Pokras Artwork Shop

I'm excited to announce the opening of the new online Art by Judy Pokras shop.

The first items are now listed--t-shirts and notebooks and totes and baby clothes and more, all adorned with nifty original Judy Pokras artwork--and I'll be adding new items all the time, so stop by and take a look! It's a great place to find unique gifts.

Zlango, a Fun Language to Replace Text Messaging

Yoav Lorch has created Zlango, a "language" of cartoony icons to replace cell phone text messages. While it may be true that few adults (at least in the US) use text messaging, it would be a lot more fun to use with Zlango! It would probably catch on! But it would probably have to be called Zlango-messaging, because Zlango would eliminate the need for text. (Although Zlango doesn't prevent people from adding text to their messages.)

Zlango is a brilliant idea, and can actually go a long way towards helping to bring about world peace, by uniting everyone with one common language. Who knows, maybe one day it will win Lorch the Nobel Peace Prize.

One suggestion for Zlango: Because vegans (and raw vegans) would prefer to have an icon for food that didn't feature a hot dog, we hope there will be an optional Zlango icon for "food" that features someone eating a piece of fresh fruit.

Julie Bowen in the Movie Night Fall

I just finished reading Nelson DeMille's thriller Night Fall. I pictured Julie Bowen playing the book's character Kate, if and when this book gets made into a feature film. I hope the director's reading this! I hope it gets made into a film, and I hope they cast Julie. She'd be perfect!!!

He Could Play Ricky Nelson in a Biopic

If you go to singer-songwriter Jeremy Fisher's site and watch his video called "High School," you'll see a performer with more than a trace of resemblance to the late rock and roll heart-throb Ricky Nelson. Although the resemblance isn't apparent in the still photo on Fisher's home page, in the video he not only evokes a similar shyness to Nelson's. Fisher also resembles the '50s icon physically, and moves like he did.

Jeremy Fisher would be a great choice to play Ricky Nelson if a film were made about him. This is the kind of uncanny similarity directors rarely find when casting a biopic.

I'm a writer/director with a great instinct for casting; I had the idea that Teri Garr should play Phoebe's mother on Friends, and eventually she was cast in that role, although I had nothing to do with the show and knew no one involved in it.

Boston Legal and Dolphins Referring to Themselves By Their Own Names

"Bob's in a Picture!"

This Newsweek article says that dolphins name themselves with "their own unique signature whistles and clicks." That's not surprising, because they're known to be very bright. What I like even better is that, according to this article, dolphins say their own names a lot. This scientific discovery gives David E. Kelley new options for storylines for the next season of the wonderful Boston Legal. Does Bill Shatner's Denny Crain have a long-lost dolphin doppleganger who goes around proclaiming to other dolphins, "Denny Crain, Denny Crain"? Maybe the dolphin seeks Denny's representation in a defamation lawsuit?

A New Syndrome: Continuous Partial Attention

Steven Levy's brilliant essay in the March 27 Newsweek (click the above headline to read the article) says it like it is. Electronic gadgets have changed the fabric of our lives. We're so busy IM-ing, reading e-mail, checking our BlackBerries (if we have one--I wish I did), and being interrupted by cell phone calls and text messages, we're not able to commit to anything at hand. As a serious astrologer might say, it's as if Gemini had taken over our culture. As a sociologist might say, it's as if the psychological "fear of commitment" had extended to society at large. Going on a date in the days before cell phones was an idyllic time, because it was just you and your date. Nowadays--as sitcoms and real life reveal-- you're not out on a date with one person; you're out with him and all the people calling him on his cell phone. About 20 years ago, musing about how previous generations grew up without TV, I wondered what things the next generation would have that we didn't have as kids. The future is here and it's moving so fast, it's tripping over itself.

James Spader Sings Love Songs

That's the name of an album I wish I could buy.

It seems that women of all ages and marital status (and even some men, of all sexual preferences) are in love with Jimmy.

I have no idea if he likes to sing. But if he made an album of love songs, it would be a best seller. The people who idolize him would have his sexy voice all to themselves, in their heads or rooms or cars, as if he were singing to them alone.

I have no idea how to get this idea to Jimmy himself. Agents don't want to hear about ideas unless you're signed up with them, and besides, I'm no record producer. I don't know what my role would be. Idea person? The one who chooses the songs and writes the cover notes? I'd love to. I'm compiling a list of songs I'd like the album to contain. But of course it's up to Jimmy. What he feels like singing. If he feels like singing. Jimmy? What do you think?

Catching up with James Spader's body of work--and what a body!

Since I only fell in love with Jimmy recently (where was I all those years?), I've been renting or buying his movies and catching up with them.

So far I've seen:

White Palace
I found the storyline unbelievable, not because of the age difference between Jimmy's and Susan Sarandon's characters but because of their class difference. Also I didn't feel there was much chemistry between them.

Alien Hunter
(I happened upon this TV one night) I liked what Jimmy did with the role, although it's not my favorite film genre. Plus, I found the visuals too dark (color-wise, not thematically)

Secretary
I really enjoyed this, in spite of the strange subject matter. Jimmy did a great job, and so did Maggie Gyllenhaal. They were perfectly cast. I was surprised to see that the screenplay was based on a novella by someone I once worked with when I lived in NYC (Mary Gaitskill), only because I hadn't heard that her writing had turned into a big deal film. She and I were freelance legal proofreaders on the midnight shift, when she became a famous and critically acclaimed writer.

Pretty in Pink
Although there's not enough Jimmy in this film for me, I loved what there was, and really enjoyed the movie. Molly Ringwald is excellent and so is Jon Cryer, especially his lip-synch dance. The film also features the cute Andrew McCarthy.

Stargate
A woman who works in the local Blockbuster raved about this one. Jimmy plays a shy, good-hearted linguist. I loved Jimmy in it--I love him in anything--but this Star Wars clone was not the type of movie I can sink my teeth into.

[By this point, having watched all of the above films plus TV's Boston Legal, I was seeing how incredibly versatile Jimmy is from one role to the next. Unlike some actors who are the same from role to role, basically playing themselves, Jimmy's always a different character.]

Sex Lies & Videotape
I had seen this ages ago when it first came out in theaters and had forgotten much of it. It was quite wonderful seeing it now. And the screenplay was brilliant. I