Frustrated listening to BH Radio 4's coverage of Diane Keaton. Clothes, quirky, etc. Ah, hold on, she was a very talented actor, drama and comedy, who stood tall and held her own, during a long career in the spotlight. She found a way to flourish in a mad business and an unstable world. I miss you!

Looking for an award winning film script to bring Ukraine to life? To walk the plight of Ukrainians into the hearts of filmgoers everywhere? “Odesa” has just added Finalist of the Richmond International Film Festival to its lengthening list of accolades. #screenplay #Ukraine

Save Odesa, and all this beautiful city represents. Forever free from the Russian boot. Open to the world. Ukraine will fight harder than anyone to save her. But like all of Ukraine they urgently need our help. Tell your rep it matters to you. Ukraine matters. Freedom matters. Is the air we breathe.

Devastating news as war kills a great artist and a big-hearted giant of the Ukrainian arts world. Vadislav Goraj, a much-loved world class tenor with Odesa Opera, has been killed while volunteering in the Sumy region of Ukraine. The Odesa National Opera said it ‘had been orphaned’.

‘As we attend to the pain within us, it opens & reveals our love… We touch the depth of our heart and remember how vast it truly is. Love transforms fear by reconnecting us to one another. Love transforms anger by guiding it into courageous, wise action.’ Oren Jay Sofer.
sendfox.com/orenjaysofer...

Pleased to report the 'Odesa' war romance film spec screenplay has landed its 3rd award - a semi-final placing in the LA Int'l Screenplay Awards. In Odesa, a DC journalist pursues a career in investigations, as her newspaper sheds jobs. To keep hers, she must accept a sudden assignment to Ukraine.

So upsetting to watch Casablanca at the cinema yesterday. When the free world united to defend its values. But I was also reminded, peace & freedom live in each of our hearts, and it is up to us to stay clear, calm & stand up for what we care about.
pic Casablanca 1942
Bogart Rains copyright Getty

Pleased! to report my war romance film screenplay Odesa has been awarded a semi-finalist place in the Santa Barbara Int'l Screenplay Awards. Awards are important for 'Odesa' to be found by producers, investors, etc. And the Santa Barbara comp has a great rep. Earned a 2nd coffee :-) & back to work!

Breathe. A pleasure to find in the stillness, there is nothing you need to do, or to be, to feel love, wash through your heart, and deep ease loosen your striving, as the water of the universe laps at your feet.

The feature film screenplay 'Odesa' has reached the semi-finals of the Page Turner Awards, lifting its chances of being optioned/produced. So pleased! After meeting Ukrainian refugees, there was little else I could write about. Propulsive, universal, poignant, war romance drama set in DC & Ukraine.

Hard to hear xmas music without thinking of the other side of Europe… the black-outs, the freezing cold, another siren in the middle of the night, another missile, mothers and lovers tending to graves. The brave souls on the endless frontline. May Ukrainians feel our love & support. In every sense.

Love this photo!!! And what it says about the people of South Korea, and what we’re all capable of. Pic: Chang W. Lee/NY Times
www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12...

Overtired & writing on a disturbing subject, I buy a tiny punnet of choc icecream... & then remember Thich Nhat Hanh: “only when you feel at home in the here & the now, do you really have peace” & I see him smile when I reply 'I will eat my icecream mindfully'. A cloud may never die but I miss you.

The waves roll in at this beach of my childhood, one edge of the blue over most of our planet, and we can swim in one ocean, and walk on a sandy beach of infinite paths, and nothing separates us. May Ukrainians live securely in peace and freedom, in a world that upholds this right for us all.

Here’s a little light, from one of those recent supermoons. No news today, just trying to raise awareness of my new war romance screenplay set in Ukraine, which often feels like sending paper planes to the moon. Every good wish. 💫

Thanks to the Dean* and these inspiring talented acting students, my war romance screenplay, Odesa, was just read in Ukraine (w/NDAs), and their feedback blew me away: A "gripping" "true war story" reveals "the innocence and love of freedom flowing in Ukrainian veins" - *Fac. Culture&Arts, Lviv Uni.

Mindfulness has taught me to tune in, and in Krakow Hotel bed, the message was stop! rest! don’t move! after some tough travels. Not one to stay in bed, I obeyed, and a beautiful snow storm unfolded out the window. Vid is a glimpse of the crescendo of what was a captivating mesmerising dance.

Sayeeda Warsi, at Cambridge Literary Festival tday, with empowering clarity and eloquence, unpacked Islamophobia in the UK - often top-down, w/tropes and signalling by many politicians, media and other influencers - and its societal harm. AudioV of "Muslims Don't Matter" (SW narrates) is excellent!