I’m not one for tabloid media nor do I really care about Miley Cyrus, but this story is everywhere and everyone from Whoopi Goldberg to Bill O’Reilly are weighing in on the issue, so I might as well throw my two cents on top of the change heap.

Miley Cyrus and Vanity Fair

Miley Cyrus - who’s currently in the process of legally changing her name from Destiny Hope Cyrus (can you blame her?) - is 15-years-old. She is probably best known for playing Hannah Montana on Disney Channel’s original series by the same name. She was invited to be in Vanity Fair and work with the famous Annie Leibovitz, who is arguably currently the best photographer in the world, known for her tasteful and creative photos of celebrities. The above picture of Miley graces the current issue of VF and seems to have parents, fans and Bill O’Reilly up in arms.

Reeling from the backlash, her handlers no doubt forced her to issue this statement yesterday:

For Vanity Fair, I was so honored and thrilled to work with Annie. I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ‘artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed.

That just sucks. I can understand damage control - you make a PR move, it backfires, you want to save face - I get that. What I don’t get is throwing other people under the bus who you approved to help you. I also don’t understand who thought it would be a good idea to blame Annie Leibovitz of all people, who is essentially infallible in her arena.

Personally, I think the photo looks great. Annie has managed to make an otherwise plain looking girl look beautiful with this classic pose. I don’t think it’s very erotic at all. People think that Miley was completely nude underneath the blanket, when in reality she was wearing long, black pants. If we replace the blanket with a backless gown, which would show about as much skin, would Miley be condemned as she is?

Sexualization is in the Eye of the Beholder

It’s a funny thing about sexuality. In many cases it’s more about how the viewer sees the subject and less about how the subject projects him or herself. Imagine, if you will, taking 10-years off Miley’s age and make her a 5-year-old who’s just had a bath. She’s wrapped in a blanket, she has wet hair and she’s staring at the camera. Aw, cute picture.

Now add 10-years to Miley’s current age and make her a 25-year-old in the same pose for Vanity Fair. Wow, beautiful, Annie’s done it again!

But at 15 it’s apparently embarrassing, because people fear that pubescent boys and lonely men will ogle her…back…? Society needs a reality check. Is the problem the subject or the viewer’s inappropriate response to the subject?

If the problem is the former then we as a society need to do something about all of those inappropriately dressed cheerleaders, French maids, Girl Scouts, and Japanese and Catholic school girls.

If you ask me, this photo is much racier and provocative than the Vanity Fair spread.

Edit: This post originally stated that Miley Cyrus was on the cover of Vanity Fair, which is incorrect. Working Author regrets the error.

As a copywriter trying to transition into a more creative professional writer, I think it’ll do me - and hopefully my readers - some good if I keep track of my current projects. This idea came to mind when a friend of mine, who I’m possibly collaborating with, reminded me that I need to get a move on with reading this dreadful book so that we can decide if it has movie potential. Ah yes, there’s nothing like ripping off books that are out of copyright for material.

So, here’s what I’m looking at so far (unfortunately, I can’t be too descriptive about the projects until they’re closer to being done and/or picked up), in no particular order:

1. One Day: This is a pet project I’m working on with my cousin. It’s just going to be a five minute short, which we’re using to establish a core group of dedicated filmmakers we know we can work with. It’s also going to be our calling card to attract investors for bigger projects. Where I’m At: Well, since I have no real world experience making films, nor does my cousin, we’re still putting together our resources. The script is complete. The actual production part is proving to be harder. We stalled out a bit there since he was really busy with deadlines and I was busy trying to find funding. Currently, we’ve decided to just go for it and plunge into the deep end, filming guerrilla-style. Yes, it could turn out like garbage, but we’re willing to take that risk.
2. Two Eyes: This one’s a semi-autobiographical screenplay. See, it’s autobiographical, making it a Bio-Pic. Bio-Pic? Biopic? Two eyes? Yeah, I could come up with convoluted code names for my projects all day! Where I’m At: The screenplay is very much in outline form still. Actually, I don’t even think it’s that far along yet. Basically, I have a bunch of scenes semi-fleshed out, but don’t know what order to put them in yet. Yeah, that’s probably not a very good screenwriting habit to get into, buy hey, whatever gets pages done, right?
3. Adaptation: So my buddy DKS is being weighed down by an unfulfilling career, but can’t financially chase his dream job of being a writer. That’s when I tossed out this idea of collaborating on a screenplay. From the conversation, it didn’t sound like he was into it, but then emailed me later, suggesting a book he read and thought the plot might be interesting to see on the silver screen. Where I’m At: I’m still trudging along through the extraneous words that make up 18th century literature. I’m somewhere in the single digit chapters. What do you want? I read the thing on my phone during breaks at work.
4. Quadrilogy: These are the big ones. These are the movies that my mind drifts to when I’m killing time. Mainly because I think they’ll be the most commercial. The first movie is screenplay-complete with at least eight versions having been used to polish the current one to a high shine. The other screenplays are more or less complete in my head. It’s just a matter of putting them down on paper, which I think is the easy part. Where I’m At: Well, things were going great there for a bit when I networked with the Actor who is one-degree of separation away from the Producer who owns the movie rights to the brand my movie(s) is(are) based on. The Actor was supposed to attend the premiere of Speed Racer this past Saturday to possibly pitch my screenplay to the Producer, but Actor’s management thought the premiere was on a different night. So, Actor didn’t get invited and Producer wasn’t pitched. Yeah, I’m bummed, but I’m staying hopeful.
5. Clay: This one, surprisingly, is not a screenplay. It’s a stage play. I can’t say it’s necessarily done, but it certainly has gone through several drafts, readings and performances. Where I’m At: I co-wrote this masterpiece and if my co-author and I can squirrel away some time to sit down and hew out the final chapter. (Plays aren’t written in chapters. That’s an inside joke.)
6. Music Videos: I have a couple of treatments that I wrote for a director friend of mine that we pitched to a couple of unsigned artists. One of our later efforts, which we went so far as to storyboard, is actually for the band Rise Against. Where I’m At: We’re having a little trouble getting a hold of their manager Missy at Velvet Hammer. So if anyone is connected to her, tell her to send me an email. I just want to know what she thought of the treatment.

Well, that’s what I have for now. Considering how much work goes into writing screenplays, treatments and stage plays, I think that’s a pretty impressive workload. I’ll catch you up on updates as they come in.

Edit: The original post read that I was looking for Missy at Velvet Revolver, which is incorrect. Velvet Revolver is a band featuring my favorite guitarist, Slash. The post has been corrected to read “Velvet Hammer” which is the management company. Thank you, Jonathan, for pointing that out. Working Author regrets the error.

I got these tips in my email the other day and I thought I’d pass them along. Apparently, they’ve been circulating the net for some time already. I’ve cleaned them up for readability. I can’t tell you how true these tips are, but what the heck, they’re worth trying out. If it saves you a bit of cash in these outrageously gasoline-priced times, then more power to you.

1. Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening means your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A one degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.
2. When you’re filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three three stages: low, middle, and high. You should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked back into the underground storage tank resulting in less gas for your money.
3. Fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation.
4. If there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up. Most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Hopefully this will help my fellow Southern Californian commuters who live a good 2-3 hours of their daily lives on the road.

Can’t Stop Developing for the Web

Alright, this will be the last of the major changes for a while. I promise.

I think I’m finally happy with the layout. Version 4.0 was functionally nice, but the look of it was a little all over the place. I think this one flows better and has a nicer palette of colors that blend well. There are still a few minor changes that I need to tackle. For instance, I’m not sure that I like the bright teal color in my right sidebar. I threw that color in there for readability since the ashtray background swallowed up the text.

I’ve also changed the left sidebar nav. I’m still debating on whether or not I need to split them up with headers that say “Writing” and “Reviews” so that people don’t get confused. If you’re a new visitor, I’d appreciate your comments. I do, however, love the cool “depression” effect the buttons make.

Well, that’s it for Web design. I’ll put up some movie reviews this weekend.

This Screenwriter’s Big Break?

Not to give away too many specific details, but the actor who read my screenplay is - in his words - “[my] biggest fan.” His management is trying to get him reservations for the Speed Racer premiere tonight. If he goes, there’s a good chance that Mr. Big Name Producer will attend as well. And if he does, then Mr. Biggest Fan will pitch him my script. So, yeah, a ton of big “if’s” still stand in my way, but you know what? I’ll take it.

Anyway, I’ll keep you all posted.

Well, I feel accomplished.

I won’t be marching into the work week feeling like I didn’t do anything over the weekend. Spent the day overhauling my site, as you can see. The more I Stumble, the more site layouts I find myself incorporating into my mine. I know I’m still not quite where I want to be at, but I think I’m getting close.

I better be. As much as I love Web developing, I hate struggling with cross-browser issues. If you run into problems with the new layout, please let me know. Thanks!