Oooooh, You Make Me Live...

It’s just about 12:15 when an IM bloops up on my laptop’s screen, covering the excel spreadsheet I’ve been buried in for the better part of an hour.

This is one of the best parts of my daily routine. Most of the communication I deal with is oriented around people wanting SOMETHING. Status. Reports. Updates. Schedules. Documentation. Whatever. Whether it’s a phone call, email, instant message, or in-person visit, it’s almost always oriented around a demand of some sort.

But this is different. Almost every day, around this time, that magic bloop signals an engagement without agenda. They usually are instigated with some random comment… either a salutation, or a movie quote, or song lyrics. Which is what makes them fun.

"You there... with the funny hat!

or

"Again with the 'I'm here before you because I have a 3-hour jump on your ass.' thing!"

or

“Ollie Ollie Oxen free!"

Yes, it’s my good buddy and writing partner, Dave, with his daily check-in. Even if we have no business to discuss – and lately that’s been the case more often than not – we always have a little friendly banter.

It’s interesting how the internet age has changed the definition of a friend. A few weeks ago the brilliant tv show The Colbert Report did one of their “reports” on a guy with millions of “friends,” all of them on MySpace. While that piece was an exaggeration, it raises an interesting question. What is the definition of a friend?

Dave’s wife, Mrs. Dave, and I had a version of this conversation earlier in the week. She was talking about their upcoming move out of LA, and how they have so many people to see before they leave – and how, interestingly, some of them actually seem offended that Dave and Mrs. Dave have decided to relocate.

I noted that when we left LA last summer, we snuck out in the dead of night, avoiding the need to rent out a private room at Spago to say goodbye to all of our acquaintances. Mrs. Dave countered that it was less a matter of ducking out, and more a matter of having no friends to actually sneak away from.

She can toss out the acidic zingers, Mrs. D. She’ll do well in New York!

Anyhow… it got me thinking. Despite having a relationship that exists primarily in “cyberspace” (God, I hate that term), that is conducted mostly via Instant Message, I certainly consider Dave a good friend. Mrs. Dave, too. They’re good people, with good hearts. Plus they drink a lot. I like that in a friend, even a long-distance one.

Soon Dave and the Davettes will be loading up and heading East. Dave – I have a simple request: As you work your way across the country, desperately mainlining NO-DOZ and McDonald’s coffee as your sit blearily-eyed behind the wheel of a massive UHAUL truck, please make a point of pulling over each day around noon Eastern, and instant message me. We can keep it short. Just a quickie George Michael lyric, or line from “Babe” (the pig, not the ballplayer). Its pretty much all that keeps my going amidst the barrage of metaphorical ass-kickings that make up my job.

Oh yeah… and you might want to consider “accidentally” dumping the hybrid car somewhere around Oklahoma. That namby-pamby Hollywood shit don’t fly in Brooklyn.

Charlie

Keywords: b movie, Siege, screenwriting, screenplay, scriptwriter, movies, friends, queen lyrics