One of the things I love about the NY Times are the little NYC stories they publish, sometimes on the editorial page, sometimes elsewhere.

Yesterday they interviewed New York-based actor John Hawkes in Park City at the Sundance Film Festival. How could such a nice young man play such an excellent villain, they wanted to know. "I think we all have it in us," he said. "You live in New York? You want to slug people every day."

It's true.

Yesterday I was buying coffee at a Dunkin Donuts on Third Ave. Taking out my wallet, another patron rushes past me to the counter. On his cell phone. Sticks out his cup and mouthes the word "Milk" to the counter guy. Keeps on with the phone conversation. The clerk pauses our transaction (I guess cause I'm not on a phone?) and adds milk to the guy's coffee and then comes back to me

This is why, when casting a movie, if you're looking for a good villain, seriously consider hiring a New Yorker.

 1/23/2011; 10:46:41 AM.   .

I just finished a book that someone sent me by email in mobi format. Works quite well with Amazon's Kindle software on my iPad. Written by a famous author, he withdrew it from publication after the events it depicted came close to happening in the real world. It's not a happy story. But it's quite well-written, and for those of us who aren't going to go out and commit the crimes, reading the book is a very harmless act. And if you, like me, have read everything by this author, you want to read this too. It's an early book, and as I said, a good one.

Okay, what happens now is nothing. I can't upload it anywhere for you to download. Not necessarily because I do or don't respect the author's wishes. For all you know he or she might be dead. But, if there were a leaks site, like the one run by WikiLeaks, or the ones being started by so many others, that specialized in apolitical leaks, I might have an option. I couldn't tell you about it here on Scripting News, but at least I could help other people who love this author's work find the book.

Sorry to be so cryptic, but I want to get this idea out there without stepping on any specific toes.

PS: I'm clearly not the first to think of this.

 1/23/2011; 10:18:56 AM.   .