Sometimes I write in my living room using my computer/TV hookup, sometimes at my kitchen table, sometimes in my office. Sometimes I find it helpful to be looking down at my iPad or netbook as I work, and sometimes up at a computer monitor.

That’s not to say that these locations are only good once. If I’ve been away from a familiar environment for long enough, it becomes new again. But the prolonged use of an environment does seem to stifle my creativity a bit.

Cosimo and I wrote H+ in various location stages. We wrote the bulk of it in my living room, sitting on the same couch staring at the big computer screen on my wall. It was very cozy, and seemed to encourage casual dialog as we worked. I do think that found its way into the writing.

Later, Cosimo had to work on another project in Ireland for a few months, so we were forced to write over Skype. I was also left house sitting his apartment while he was gone (and dog sitting as some of you may remember). That shift in writing location and perspective also shook things up a bit for the better.

And finally when we got to Chile we found ourselves once again writing from the couch of our temporary apartment, staring at a computer screen on the wall.

The Homes was written in my living room as well, but I was turned sideways on my couch and looking down at my old netbook.

I wrote a TV spec last year from my computer in my office. So that one left me with very upright memories.

Sean Gunn and I recently developed a TV pitch that we also did in my office, but we worked 100% off of my iPad hooked to a small monitor on the coffee table. He was staring at that monitor from the couch, while I was sitting across from him in my desk chair.

Whatever location/perspective I choose, I typically commit to it for the duration of the script or design work. But if I notice a creative block developing, I can usually dislodge it a bit simply by picking a new location in which to work.

So next time you’re having a block, give it a try. Pick up and go to another spot in your house. If you work in an office, ask a colleague if you can trades desks. Go to a coffee shop.

It may sound ridiculous that these little differences matter, but for whatever reason they do for me… and may for you too. In fact, some of you may notice some new design changes to this blog. In some ways, this redesign represents the change in perspective I’ve needed to see this blog in a new light again.

Are you someone who works best from a singular location/comfort zone? Or does any of this sound familiar? Let me know in the comments. Or on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+

People from a variety of different tech, marketing, and business backgrounds literally just pull ideas out of their head and try to put together a full pitch and business plan IN THREE DAYS!

As I said, I was asked to speak at the keynote, in which I mostly just talked about my background in tech and the arts, and a little bit about how Hollywood is being rattled by all this new Internet technology.

But then later in the evening, they began the process of actual rapid fire pitching. I was given a space in the robotics track. Meaning that I was only surrounded by people interested in starting companies that leverage robotics in some way. About 30 people got up on stage and had 60 seconds to pitch an idea (many they’d come up with minutes before). It was almost like a rumba line of pitching. It looked fun, but also really stressful.

For a while I thought I was just going to observe. And then at the last minute I had an idea for a product that used robotics in a way that was sort of relevant to my keynote speech.

So on a total whim, I hopped into the line, I rapid fire pitched my idea, and to make a long story short…. I am now officially participating in this weekend.

A few others there were interested in my idea, and I soon formed a little team made up of me (an actor, writer, director), a couple of software programmers, a businesswoman (from Guatamala! Awesome!), and a businessman. And by Sunday night we need to have a friggin business model, business plan, and A WORKING FRIGGIN DEMO using a robot here at the event called the Turtle (Google it… it’s late and I’m too tired to find the link.)

I’ll fill you in more on what our company is and the product as the weekend continues. And I’ll be tweeting and blogging all weekend.

I’m really excited, I have to say. My own robot company?! Even if we totally crash and burn, this is super cool.

Oh and by the way, hi. I haven’t been online in a while. Well, I’m back… for now.

Bottom line, I’ve been away for a while. No surprise there.

And now I’m back. Also no real surprise. At least I hope not.

But reading my last post, wow… I sure did leave you all with a pretty intense cliffhanger at the end of my month of blogging. “John Cabrera, Lost, Contemplative, Fearing the Worst.”

Well, good thing my life is not a Lars Von Trier film… or a Sean Penn film for that matter… cause as things tend to do in actual “real life”, the events of my little movie here have gotten a bit brighter since then.

One of the main reasons I’ve been so quiet lately is because I’ve been working a lot, or more specifically writing a lot. Aside from the work I’m doing on the finishing touches to H+ (drumroll please), I am currently writing my first big feature. And, well, the last few months leading up to it have been a lot of holding my breath about whether it would actually happen. I’d be disingenuous if I didn’t admit that there’s still a bit of breath holding going on these days (I actually just exhaled for the first time since starting this post). But that’s what you sign up for when you get into show business…

Anyway, I feel safe enough to share this much. And all that nonsense in my last post about whether I’d actually “have more to give” another project just turned out to be some much needed self deprecation. What do you know?!

“So what’s the feature, what’s the feature?”

Do you think if I was allowed to tell you that, I wouldn’t have just started this post with a link to the Hollywood Reporter or something? Come on now. Many of you know that it took a few Larks and half the run of Lost before I was ready to share deets on H+. The same with this project, I imagine.

And H+………….. Oh H+……….. What the hell is happening with you? We announced you in July? Where the hell are you?

Yes, these are all questions floating around these days. I’ve heard them, don’t chu worry. And if I could tell you anymore than “soon”, I would. Although “soon” is a pretty vague word, I’ll admit. So perhaps I should just give you my definition.

soon (su:n) adj. a. Not a year from now or later. “When’s H+ coming out?” “Soon!”
b. Hopefully not a year from now or later. “When’s H+ coming out?” “Umm….. soon?!”
c. But not before the end of this calendar year, sadly. “When’s H+ coming out? Oh no, wait, let me guess. Soon.”

But that’s not to say that we won’t be leaking more details and perhaps even early bits of the full experience. And hey, they’ve been showing trailers for Spiderman since Comic Con, and that’s not coming out until next friggin summer! So for all of you eager to see the series, thank you thank you for your continued patience. And perhaps be comforted knowing that we’re trying to get it in the absolute best possible shape before we unveil it. For example, we just shot some extra goodies for the series the other day.

So stay with us!

In other news from the day to day, I was recently in London (in connection to the feature project I mentioned above) and it was the second time ever I had visited the city. And unlike my first experience a decade ago, this trip was pretty amazing.

I’ve written a post which I’ll be publishing on Monday talking about my experience with the city (both this time and last).

I’m also looking forward to the holidays for whatever reason. I don’t typically get into the holiday spirit. And it’s mostly because I find it such a stressful time. But maybe it’s because of how crazy stressful this year has been with H+ and The Homes and all my traveling for work. The thought of some caroling is actually kind of nice.

Anyway, gotta get back to the writing. I’ve miss you all.

…

………

Oh come on! Tell me you’ve missed me too!

The Green Dragon

If you like your sweet juices to have some bite, this is for you.

2 Celery Stalks
2 Green Apples
1/2 Lime
1/2 inch slice of ginger (1/2 inch diameter)
1 Hot Hatch Green Chile (New Mexican variety)
1/2 Cucumer (aprox 6 inches)
1 Leaf of Kale

Push the stick the ginger and lime in the kale bunched up and juice together with the apples. Then celery. Then chile. Then cucumber.

Ogre’s Blood

This is a serious drink for the serious warrior. Do not attempt this drink unless you are at least level 32.

1 Red Beet w/attached Greens
3 Roma Tomatoes
Bunch of Cilantro
1 Clove of Garlic
3 Celery Stalks
1/2 Green Pepper

First juice the red beet with it’s greens. Put the garlic clove in the bunch of Cilantro and push through feeder with Tomatoes. Then Celery. Then Green Pepper.

Arithluea’s Amulet

This golden drink was thought to exist only in legend. And then I made one the other day and was like, “What do you know? This drink is for real.”

2 Small Yellow Beets (no greens)
1 inch slice of Pineapple
2 Green Apples
2 Celery Stalks
1/4 slice of Ginger

Start with the Yellow Beets. Then the pineapple and ginger together. Then the celery. Then the apples.

I got my Playstation 3 delivered yesterday.
I went to the game store and picked up Fallout 3.
I also picked up Dragon Age.
I also picked up Heavy Rain.

And I have not slept a wink except in the the games themselves.

This is not an actual post (Let’s be honest, very few of them have been this month). This is just a little postcard from The Wasteland, letting everyone know that I’ve cleared out the Super-Duper Mart, Disarmed the Bomb, and now I’m on my way into that mine field.

I also have to cut this one real short so that I can get back to business.

I’m gonna try to catch up in the next few days so that I actually end the month on the 31st.

But I thought it would be cool to share with you some of the digital gifts I got from some of you lovely people.

Well first of all, I just want to thank all of you on FB, Twitter, and Tumblr who wished me a happy birthday… even the ones who came belated. It really is true that wall postings, tweets, and tumbles have become great gifts in the digital age. Way better than the wireless headphones I got for my birthday back in 2002. Those things seriously sucked.

Anyway, here are a few sweet things that people posted in my honor today.

Jess Gutierrez gave me this photo:

and this video:

Janina Rossmannek gave me this video of my German doppleganger… my 20s German doppleganger… remember, I just turned 36:

Got this cake from Bunny Dunn… in her eyes I will always be a 5 year old.

This DOG-MONKEY was given to me by my friend Nicolette. She really knows how to shop for me.

And sticking in the theme of dogs… here is an awesome DOG-Cake given to me by my friend Beth.

These two vids were given to me by two of my friends in Chile who worked on H+. I’m not sure if they collaborated on this gift… or if this is just a Chilean tradition… but they aren’t exactly the same.

And I have to say, I really love the gifts I get on Tumblr, cause to be honest, with absolutely no good system for searching posts, it really is a sort of scavenger hunt trying to find any. If I missed your gift, please let me know.

The first is from Astrid… a robot is always a pretty safe present with me.

And last but not least, probably my crowning gift, Jennifer Felder’s epic robot masterpiece… a variation on last years similar themed work:

Thank you everyone, for thinking of me on my birthday.

Luckily my favorite bar Harvard & Stone was having a private party in celebration (or mourning) of the cancelation of The Sunset Junction street fair… so it must have attracted all of the really hardcore unicycle riding hipsters. Cause tonight The Bigfoot was sublime. I’m home now after about 7 or 8 Tom Collins (what can I say I’m a cocktail guy on my birthday) and it was just a terrific evening.

I got to see a bunch of the H+ gang… most of whom I haven’t hung out with since February. I got to let loose a bit after a few weeks of intensive work.

And now I’m hitting the old sackeroo.

Thanks to all of you who are sending the sweet Facebook and twitter birthday wishes. You all are awesome.

Oh and how old am I?

36! Officially on my way to 40 y’all! Woot!

Tonight though, I was working on a spec pilot I’m really excited about. We’re about to share it with the town, so I’m both nervous and dying to get it out there. So far, it’s gotten really good feedback from my close friends and colleagues… but perhaps they’re bias.

Anyway, tonight I finished a very critical rewrite, and I can go into the weekend with that weight off my shoulders. And this is a pretty special weekend for me actually… because in about 24 hours, I turn 36 years old (oh that wasn’t a reminder to wish me a happy birthday. Of course it wasn’t.)

Anyway, it’s 5:30am.. oh wait actually 5:40am… so I’m off to dreamy land… where everything is made of puppies and kittens. Literally everything.

Um… I mean, sons.

Wow, there really are a lot of similarities between Myst and Lost. Aside from the fact that they’re both about islands and have 4 letter titles that end in “st”…. There’s a very similar magical setting in both games. Mix between ancient and technological… Science and Mysticism.

Any Lost fans who have never played Myst, I highly recommend you download it for the iPhone/iPad. You really won’t be sorry.

In other news, think I may have overdone it on the juicing on my first day. Cause I’m pretty sure I drank several pounds of liquifed produce today. From beets to spinach to grapes to celery… Honestly, at one point I almost tried to juice a piece of frozen salmon. It’s just too fun.

I mean, there has to be a name for what happened to me today (besides batshit crazy). I’m sure others have experienced it. The thrill of putting in that first fruit or veggie. Hearing it hit those blades… getting liquified. There’s just something so awesome about reducing a piece of celery to a beverage. I can’t imagine anything more awesome. Except perhaps a machine that could vaporize that produce.

Actually, I guess I do own one of those… and it’s not really that awesome. :S

So yeah, liquifying produce… totally addictive… totally awesome… but dangerously filling.

Had an awesome evening at Sean Gunn’s for a little din din and chit chat. I’m not sure if any of you know this, but Sean is an amazing chef. Probably the best self taught chef I know. I’m on an elimination diet to try to understand my skin issues better and the dude totally whipped up an amazing meal out of pretty much beets, peahces, spinach and sea salt.

So yeah, nice end to the weekend.

Anyway, new subject… I was flipping through old posts as well as random design and illustration stuff I’ve made over the years and I stumbled across something from 2009 that I just realized I never posted here. I only posted it on Tumblr. At least I can’t seem to find it in my posts.

Oh well, if I did post it here, then I’m posting it again.

It’s a flowchart I designed for David Bowie’s A Space Oddity.

Click the image for a larger version. Then just follow the numbers to listen to the song in your head.

Anyway, in one day I’ve been able to finish three of the ages: Channelwood, Stoneship, and the spaceship age (forgot its name).

But man did it really bring back memories of my old days of gaming. And by old I mean the 80s. Here are the covers to my two all time favs.

To be honest, I think these games are at least partially responsible for my writing voice… or at least the kinds of stories I enjoy telling. I just love detailed, nuanced worlds. Story settings that have been touched by the histories of countless characters that have come long before the ones in the story itself… characters we may never know by name… or have any contact with except through the elements they’ve left behind for new characters to find… if that makes any sense.

Anyway, I haven’t purchased a serious gaming platform in years (unless you count the iPhone). My last was the PS2 near the beginning of the last decade. There have been a handful of games that I’ve played and loved throughout that time (Prince of Persia, Dark Cloud 2, SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS!!). But those types of games (and I include Myst in there too) are sort of like books for me… if I haven’t played in a while, it’s tough for me to get back into playing. But then when I do, I suddenly want to play game after game after game… at the expense of my sleep and health.

You guys saw that I just recently purchased some books… been bloggin a bit about games lately… so it should come as no surprise that I finally just bought myself that PS3. After years of saying I would. I finally did it. And I got a really amazing deal of $150 for the 160gb so I couldn’t pass it up. I already know the first game I’m gonna dive into when it arrives.

Any guesses?

Playing a little late night iPhone Myst in bed. Which I love. But I didn’t play this game when it came out. I know it’s a favorite of many… but this is my first time through.

I actually started a few years ago when it first came out for the iPhone. I have no idea how far I got. I finished the Tree land and I think the mechanical ship land… but I still have no idea what the planetarium does, the giant gears, or the clock tower. And no idea how to go up the elevator in the library. That’s not an open invitation for spoilers or hints (not that I haven’t used a few hints within the app already).

But to be honest, this game has really got me wishing for a few of my personal favorite from the past to be ported to the iPhone:

The Bard’s Tale (1, 2, and 3)
Wasteland
The original Fallout (1, and 2)
Grimm Fandango (I know they have some of the Monkey Island games but give us Grimm!!!!!!!)

What old games would you love to see ported to mobile devices?

Okay maybe I’m exaggerating on the latter but today was not really my day, and one of those that kinda has you wondering why we do it… why we continue to let ourselves be battered and bruised for this industry. All for the sake of getting to tell a story. Just a story. It’s not even the money… we just want the chance to direct it or act it or write it… and have people see the fruits of our labors. And we’re willing to bash our heads in trying.

Ugh.

Whatever.

I’ve been procrastinating this post cause I knew the only honest thing that could come out would be negative and sort of depressive. But I figure if you wanna get the full me… this is one of the shades of Cabrera. Of a lot of us out here in Hollywood, actually… at a variety of of industry levels.

Anyway, while I was procrastinating, I got into my favorite new mind numbing distraction… a tiny iPhone app called Tiny Tower.

It’s basically a sim, where you construct a massive building and inhabit it with lots of little people called Bitizens. You give them jobs, a place to live, collect rent from them, help them stock the shelves of their place of employment. There’s something strangely ironic about it actually.

But I give this game an A+ in “taking your mind off of everything else in the real world” which is perfect for me right now. I can at least feel like the god of a fake world.

Give it a try if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch. It’s totally free. Totally awesome. And will totally consume you for hours if you’re not careful.

I’ve built up to floor 39. I’m really rising high, let me tell you.

“Strand in der Stadt”. This is a yearly event in Nuernberg’s Old Town. They truck in tons of sand, dump it right in the middle of what was once a medieval city (within walking distance from a near 2000 year old castle)… and literally build a set straight out of the film Cocktail. It’s pretty incredible.

The next group of shots are from a day I spent in the little university town of Goettingen.

Cause what university town is complete without a Banksy poster?

The next two were taken in what could have easily been mistaken for a junk yard… except every car was the same. The old Citroen 2CV. They have an affectionate name for it in Germany. I can’t remember… but whoever owns this lot really loves these cars. And doing a little sniffing online I found that there was a revival planned for the 2CV a few years back.

The next couple shot were taken at a castle near Goettingen that’s been turned into a really nice restaurant. The first is just a shot overlooking a small town below the castle.

And the next few I took in Berlin at the end of my trip. I flew there spur of the moment to direct some audio dubbing for one of our “H+” actresses, the incredible Hannah Herzsprung.

I wish I had taken more pictures, but whenever I’m really immersed in a place (as I am everytime I visit Germany), I just forget to take photos. To be honest, I’m surprised I took as many as I did.

And I went on a serious hunt for Juicers. I’m now starting to reconsider my original insistence on a cold press juicer. It seems that these centrifugal juicers have a lot of pros over even the best cold press versions I’ve found. And the claim that they introduce small amounts of heat that destroy enzymes in the juice may not be totally accurate… or so negligible that it’s not enough of a con. Either way, I’ll have a juicer by next week.

I also won an eBay auction… which always makes you feel good. Especially after you were recently stolen from on eBay. I’ll explain that more in another less chipper post.

And I went to dinner with a good friend who I haven’t seen in a while. He produced my first film The Man Who Invented the Moon back in 2003, and now he’s a total pioneer in all of these upcoming changes to media on the web. His company Demand Media is responsible for a little website called Cracked.com among others. We talked a lot about the future of web media, which is always fun for me… and you guys know I can go on for hours about that.

Our main topic revolved around the role of unions and agents in the upcoming wave of web media… and particularly their relevance in the face of crowd sourcing which is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the new media equation.

I’m planning a much longer post about the topic, because I have a lot to say. But do any of you guys have any thoughts on this? Let me know so I can include them.

Anyway, yeah, it was a nice full day. The first stress free and yet totally productive day I’ve had in a while. You know how sometimes you can have those stress free days that are also totally worthless? This one was not one of those.

Today I headed down to my local Borders book store. And by local I mean about 20 miles away. And why such a trek?

Well, in case you haven’t heard, Boarders is tapping out. Kissing the tips of its index and middle finger and throwing the peace sign. Audi. And I actually just found out about it this weekend after I drove down to the (former) spot of my actual “local” Borders only to find it completely gutted and prepped for squatter habitation.

I was like, “whaa..?” I’d never heard of a Boarders location closing. Not in the 20 years I’ve known them. So I checked online to see if it had moved. And that’s when I saw… it wasn’t just this store. It was much more widespread than that. Every store was going out… and with a bang.

30% to 50% off of everything in the store! Up to 65% if you buy enough stuff!

So yeah, today I drove 20 miles to Arcadia to cash in on some of those discounts and score me some books. I picked up these here.

I’ve already started reading a bit of each to see which I’m gonna really dive into first. “Feed”, is gonna be my foray into YA… as an adult… but it fits nicely into a resolution I made with myself to read some of that… especially being that I work in an industry so influenced by it. Anyway, I love the first bit I’ve read so far. I’m also going crazy about this graphic novel LOCAL… just from the first two chapters. Another total score. The mathematics book and the Freemasons book were super cheap sale items that peaked my interest. I’ve already read a bit from each, and I now know why they were on the sale rack… but I’m still gonna read them. The Freemason book is pretty boring, but really interesting info. I almost wanna just read the book and then write my own Freemason book that’s total hilarious pop corn reading and then in the bibliography, I’ll just list this book as my only reference.

I have to say, it was totally sad to see Borders like that. Nothing was in its place. I mean, forget about going there to actually find a book you want. You’ll be searching the shelves for hours. And it may not even be in the right section anymore. I have to admit, I was a little guilty of adding to the mess. At one point I had a J.D. Salinger box set (I’d read all of them years ago, but don’t have them anymore)… but it was $60 even after the discount… and well… I’m getting ready to buy that juicer, and Franny and Zooey don’t juice no Kale. So I think I dropped it off where I picked up that Juicer book.

Man, they were even selling the chairs and tables and fixtures and stuff. I mean, you could totally buy one of those racks that they hold all the Moleskine journals and pads… the ones that totally say Moleskine at the top of the rack. I felt so bad for Borders.

*sigh*

I remember when the first one opened in my area of Miami. I was in High School, and a bunch of us LOVED going there for some reason… way more than Barnes and Noble, which was also down the street. It was like our total hang out. A friend of ours worked at the cafe, and we would drive over to it like it was a friggin 50s diner or something and order coffee drinks and chat quitely while some of us looked for books… you’d always find me in the fantasy section.

Borders, I’m sad you’re going. Really. What happened? Why did you lag so far behind in the book war?

Well, anyway, thanks for those high school memories. And for the sweet discounts!!!!!

Nope.

I’m even more nervous than I’ve ever been for an acting gig. Maybe because I want it more. Anyway, It’s 2am, and I think it’s time to hit the sack at a decent hour for the first time in a long time. Decent being any hour before 5am… or 8am.

Wish me luck. I hope the pitch isn’t too long. I hope I’m engaging and that my story and concept are exciting. Unfortunately, I can’t talk about what it is. Even if I ended up getting it… which is also a long shot… I still probably couldn’t talk about it for a while.

Alright, nighty night, Hawaiians. Talk to you all tomorrow.

I’m not typically a Saturday night guy, but tonight I’m out and about with my good friend Michael Muhney and blogging in real time from our adventure. I can’t really sit down tonight and write a post. But I can add to this post throughout the evening. I’m right now at Harvard & Stone, my favorite bar in the city of Los Angeles, perhaps in the world. It’s within walking distance of my home, which makes it that much better. And we’re about to leave now to see Harry Potter.

The drink pictured is called Tequila Blast, and it is delicious.

10:15pm

Sunday, 12:38am (but not in Hawaii)

That was a fun film. To be honest, I really just got back into Potter recently. I stopped at the 5th film cause I thought it was god awful. But then I decided to pick back up again recently so that I could experience the final film in the theaters. And I’m glad I did, cause these last three movies were great.

But I still stand by my claim that the 5th film was ugh. And I wasn’t crazy about the 4th either.

The third was good, though.

1:04am

So we’re walking around the CBS studio right now. Oh, you know… just spinning the “Price is Right” wheel. Perfect post-movie fun.

Okay, so… World Cultures.

I know that the largest majority of the visitors to this blog are from the US. However, my Google analytics (which I do check from time to time… particularly during periods of heavy blogging) say that I have readers from all over the world. In fact, since the beginning of the year readers from 95 different countries and 6 continents have been here… half of those countries frequent a lot… even though for reasons I can sort of assume (and understand) they rarely comment. The top 15 countries are Germany, Spain, Canada, the UK, Australia, Turkey, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Greece, France, Norway, and Sweden. And that got me thinking about an idea I had a long time ago that I never really had the chance to work out.

You guys know that I love exploring cultures and getting to know friends all around the world. And I just love that so many people from various cultures seem to be interested in doing the same here. And so I was wondering if there could be a way to turn my blog into the starting place for a sort of intercultural sharing project. A way for all of these readers to get to know each other a little better. When I first thought this idea up it was around Christmas time, so I thought it would be cool to maybe do some variation on Secret Santa in which participants send and receive little gifts from each other from around the world. And I thought it could be arranged here at johncabrera.com

But I just couldn’t figure out how to make it work in a way that was really novel and exploratory. So then I thought maybe it could be fun to simply pass something around the world, using this blog as a guide along its journey. Again, there was something about it that didn’t feel exciting enough to me.

That was a couple years ago, admittedly inspired by some very cool internet friends sending me little gifts from time to time. But I haven’t thought about it in a while. And It wasn’t until the other day when I saw those analytics numbers for visitors abroad that I considered trying again.

So I ask all of you peeps abroad, as well as you US peeps:

1) Who’s interested in a fun, creative, (maybe a little strange) game that involves the actual physical mail and countries all around the world?
2) Who’s got any cool ideas for what that fun game might be? I’m formulating a few… but I’m certainly taking suggestions.