Now that the job-front is looking more secure - actually, it’s kind of dicey right now, but we’ll get to that another time - I’ve been making strides back into the freelance world. I got picked up by Inland Empire Weekly (www.ieweekly.com) and I’m one of the two restaurant reviewers they have on staff. As a writer, one of the basic bits of advice published writers will give you on getting published is: Write what you know. Since I’ve worked in restaurants for several years, both in front and back of the house, it seemed only natural that I start writing reviews. Strangely, it wasn’t the perfect fit I figured it would be when I started out.

Recently, I’ve been getting hits for searches on “how to write restaurant reviews” or “restaurant cover gig advice,” so I figured I’d help my fellow junior restaurant reviewers hit the ground running. Keep in mind, however, that these are not hard-and-fast rules. It will really depend on the publication you’re writing for. Your local regional lifestyle magazine will probably have different standards than Food & Wine.

The Sentinel is your classic frame-up story where the hero is part of some group or elite taskforce and is mistakenly considered a bad guy. The hero must now elude capture by his/her old colleagues in order to clear his/her name. Think The Negotiator or Minority Report or any other film that fits the bill. In this case, we have Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas), an aged Secret Service Agent who took a bullet for President Reagan in his younger years. When we meet him in his current older state, he’s still protecting the current President, but the First Lady seems to have added sexual favors to his job description. We find this out, of course, on the heels of hearing Garrison’s close friend tell him that he has something important to disclose, but will wait until later. Note to Self: Whenever someone tells you that they “have something important to tell you,” make them tell you whatever it is right then and there. Nine times out of ten, that person will end up dead before they can tell it to you. Such is the case here. Alas.

Fortunately for Garrison, an informant tips him off to an internal assassination plot on the President by a rogue Secret Service Agent. Things turn for the worse, however, when someone blackmails Garrison into suspicious behavior, using photographs of him and the First Lady as leverage. This causes super-agent David Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland) and his new partner (Eva Longoria) to bring Garrison in, who, of course, runs. From there, Garrison must elude authorities, prove his innocence, smoke out the rogue agent and save the President’s life all in what’s left of the 108 minutes of the movie.

Yeah, I’m a little late.
You know, I’m pretty good about following through with the things I say I’ll do. Typically, if I give my word that something will be done, I will even inconvenience myself to make sure I don’t break my word. That’s why I’m so disappointed that I haven’t kept up with my [...]

And I’m feeling tired.
Happy New Year everyone!
I chose to be an old fuddy duddy and stayed in (again) this year. However, that gave me ample time to work on my new layout. I’ll say it’s about 95% of the way done. Still working out some kinks, so bear with me. If you notice anything that [...]