Over the next two weeks, you’ll notice a bit of deja vu at this site: old articles suddenly popping up on the front page, with new dates and old comments. It’s not a technical glitch. I’m putting the site into reruns while I’m out of the country and off the grid.
[ ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malawi)I’m going to Africa — specifically, [Malawi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malawi).  I’ll be working with an organization called [FOMO](http://www.fomo.co.uk/), which runs programs to help the orphans of Mulanje, a district in the southern portion of the country. [U.S. Doctors for Africa](http://www.usdfa.org/) is one of their partners, and the trip is somewhat under their auspices. While there, I’ll be teaching English and helping repaint a school.
](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malawi)I’m going to Africa — specifically, [Malawi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malawi).  I’ll be working with an organization called [FOMO](http://www.fomo.co.uk/), which runs programs to help the orphans of Mulanje, a district in the southern portion of the country. [U.S. Doctors for Africa](http://www.usdfa.org/) is one of their partners, and the trip is somewhat under their auspices. While there, I’ll be teaching English and helping repaint a school.
“Why?” is a fair question. A few months ago, I was talking with a student who was just graduating from college. When I asked her about her summer plans, she enthusiastically described an upcoming trip to Uganda. I said something like, “Wow, I wish I could do that.”
Not more than 10 minutes later, I realized there was absolutely nothing stopping me from doing that — other than a bit of fear and inertia.
This isn’t research for any particular project, but it’s homework just the same. Part of a writer’s job is to imagine. I can imagine giant chocolate factories, conjoined chanteuses, and epic sky battles. But I honestly can’t imagine what it’s like to be an orphan in a landlocked country that’s lost a generation to HIV/AIDS. So I’m going to see what that’s like. I’ll end up writing about it here and in other publications, but the main reason I’m getting on the plane is to get some grasp on a situation that is, to me, unfathomable.
While I’m gone, Matt will be minding the store. Please be nice.
 I’m sure this is an unusual type of email, but I am doing some footwork for a friend of mine who wants to be a script doctor and doesn’t really know where to start.  Right now he has a degree in English – Creative Writing and some film classes under his belt, but no experience in the industry.  Can you offer some quick advise to someone looking to break into the field?
I’m sure this is an unusual type of email, but I am doing some footwork for a friend of mine who wants to be a script doctor and doesn’t really know where to start.  Right now he has a degree in English – Creative Writing and some film classes under his belt, but no experience in the industry.  Can you offer some quick advise to someone looking to break into the field?  When you know computers pretty well, you start seeing certain things in certain movies as being rather idiotic. A huge amount of pictures scrolling by during a search, 3D graphics exploding out of an old laptop during hacking in [HACKERS](http://imdb.com/title/tt0113243/combined), people using Microsoft Word as a magical web search engine, etc. That stuff never happens in real life!
When you know computers pretty well, you start seeing certain things in certain movies as being rather idiotic. A huge amount of pictures scrolling by during a search, 3D graphics exploding out of an old laptop during hacking in [HACKERS](http://imdb.com/title/tt0113243/combined), people using Microsoft Word as a magical web search engine, etc. That stuff never happens in real life!  The good thing is, things are looking up. Real hacking is being shown in mainstream movies, a good example being the usage of NMap and an old SSH exploit in [MATRIX: RELOADED](http://imdb.com/title/tt0234215/combined). Sure, the movie wasn’t centered around it, but it was kind of neat. (There’s more such goodness in the original version of the   [MATRIX](http://imdb.com/title/tt0133093/combined) script.)
The good thing is, things are looking up. Real hacking is being shown in mainstream movies, a good example being the usage of NMap and an old SSH exploit in [MATRIX: RELOADED](http://imdb.com/title/tt0234215/combined). Sure, the movie wasn’t centered around it, but it was kind of neat. (There’s more such goodness in the original version of the   [MATRIX](http://imdb.com/title/tt0133093/combined) script.)