Fragment

A wad of tissues like a blooming rose.

GrandCentral Link

It's Official

I am resuming work on the novel. I aim to finish the fourth revision by January 16.

Goal One

I want to make someone's favorite movie.

Life Updates

Dear friends,

Hope you are doing well! Here are a couple life updates and my new contact information:

1. Summer Recap: New York, NorCal, Maui / Photos
2. Book and Movie Recommendations
3. Living, Working, and Writing in LA
4. Blog Launch: blog.steventagle.com
5. New Contact Information

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1. Summer Recap: New York, NorCal, Maui / Photos

This summer, I spent lots of time traveling and hanging out with the people who meant the most to me. After graduating from Stanford in June, I spent a month in Saratoga Springs at the New York State Summer Writer’s Institute. I studied fiction under bestselling authors like Rick Moody and hung out with gifted Stanford writers Alicia Dennis, Annie Wyman, and Ly Chheng. Meanwhile, I lived in a charming apartment with Krystle Nowhitney, who introduced me to the pleasures of Saratogan life and helped me solve practical mysteries like how to shop for groceries, how to clean an apartment, and how to live on $100 a week. And, amazingly, Paco Torres came to visit!

After my writing program finished, I spent 10 days in New York City with Catherine Ho, Barrett Sheridan, and my parents. We checked out New York’s food offerings, its secret clubs, and best of all, Broadway! I saw a Broadway show every day I was in NY. My favorites were SPRING AWAKENING, LEGALLY BLONDE, and RENT. I also stopped at B&H Photo and Video so that I could make an important purchase: a new HD video camera, the Canon HV-20.

With my new camera in tow, I drove up to NorCal for a week-long roadtrip. Shamala Gallagher and I visited Professor Tallent and her family in Fort Bragg. We scoped out the dock for fresh albacore tuna, walked the pristine beaches, hiked up to a pygmy forest (a first for me!), and relaxed in the Mendocino Spaworks. Then I spent a couple days with friends and family in Stanford and San Francisco before driving to Yosemite to see Jack Loveridge. It was my first visit to a national park, but I wasn’t too impressed. The best thing about it was the clarity of the night sky, a surprise bowling upset, staying up late to talk in the car with the seats reclined.

The last trip I took was to Maui with my family. I’ve never felt so pampered. I was constantly eating tropical fish, reading poolside, and shopping at the wharf. I don’t think there’s anything more luxurious than reading by the pool while hotel attendants come around spooning cantaloupe slices into your open palm. I also became obsessed with spam sandwiches rolled with rice and seaweed. They were sold at the hotel gift shop, and I ate about 10 of them.

Photos:
01 – Krystle, Paco, and me at the world-famous Saratoga Racetrack

02 – Catherine and me in Times Square, NY

03 – Jack and me at Glacier Point, overlooking Half Dome

04 – Lisa Urbanic and me at the Long Beach Lobsterfest

2. Book and Movie Recommendations

This summer, I read 21 books and watched 46 films. Here are my top recommendations from that list:

Books: SPECIMEN DAYS by Michael Cunningham; DISGRACE by J.M. Coetzee; MUSEUM PIECES by Elizabeth Tallent

Movies: LUST, CAUTION; THE DARJEELING LIMITED; KING OF KONG

DVDs: THE SQUID AND THE WHALE; THE LIVES OF OTHERS; ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW

3. Living, Working, and Writing in LA

Since the end of August, I have been living and working in West LA. I am staying in a sweet two-bedroom apartment in the Westwood area with my friends Mike Wong and Katherine Felsburg. Our living situation has been quite harmonious. Mike often prepares delicious meals for us, and we sit around the table (more often the TV) and have meals like a family. Yesterday night we watched LUST, CAUTION at the ArcLight, then this morning we went to the Santa Monica farmer’s market for omelettes. My sister, Camille Tagle, is also back at UCLA for her second year, so the two of us are once more wreaking havoc in the same zip code.

For the past few months, I have been working at the Jim Preminger Agency, a boutique literary and talent agency five minutes from my apartment. I am the assistant to literary agent Dean Schramm. On a typical day, I answer phones, send out scripts, and file papers. When things aren’t too busy, I have time to do a little of my own writing as well. The office is closing on October 31, so I am in the process of looking for a new job.

My writing has been going pretty well. For the past month, I’ve been writing a new short film script called BEAR about a mother and son dealing with grief. Last week, I submitted this script to the BlueCat Screenwriting Lab. I am now working on a new short that links two of my favorite topics: sex and death. In the winter, I plan to finish revisions on ENCANTADO, and spring will hopefully see the first draft of a screenplay based on my novel.

4. Blog Launch: blog.steventagle.com

Welcome to Staglevision, my new blog. I plan to update frequently with film footage, photography, writing, character fragments, quotes, invitations, and random thoughts. This blog will remain operational while my website undergoes renovation. Check out the material I've posted so far. Leave comments on entries you like, entries that remind you of things you’ve experienced, entries you'd like to see more of.

5. New Contact Information

My Stanford email account is expiring, so please note my new Gmail address on the Facebook, effective immediately. My email signature always includes my most up-to-date contact information. Please send me packages, letters, emails, Facebook messages, and IMs, or call me to keep me updated on your life story. I am always happy to hear from you and will gladly reciprocate if you take the effort to contact me. And for those of you living in LA or visiting southern California, call me so we can get together and hang out.

Thanks for all your support. Let me know how you’ve been!

Sincerely,
Steven

Sunday morning

The boys sleep in late. They emerge from their rooms brushing their teeth.

Apples and Oranges

"I think it's a hard comparison for the mind to make: comparing a girl to a dog."

Want Ads

Are YOU the talented web designer I'm looking for?

I need help moving my writing, photography, and film projects off my Stanford webspace and into a sleek, minimalist website.

Please contact me if you are willing and able.

Welcome!

Dear friends,

Welcome to Staglevision, my new blog. I plan to update frequently with film footage, photography, writing, character fragments, quotes, invitations, and random thoughts. This blog will remain operational while my website undergoes renovation.

Thanks for stopping by! Check out the material I've posted so far. Leave me comments to let me know what you're up to, what you'd like to see on the blog.

Enjoy,
Steven

Leash Child

"Every leash child I see, I just want to set them free."

Populate

Girl in a red fine polka dot dress and satchel bag, doing her make-up in a compact mirror as she walked.

First and Last Names

Referring to characters by their first and last names create formality, distance--an interesting way to exoticize the beloved. Familiars, people we are comfortable with, go by first name only.

Good Metaphor

Comes organically from the text, where the vehicle is a memory shared by both the character and the reader.

A Theory on Writing

That the first draft is a grimy lens through which everything you see is blurry, obscured. In each subsequent draft, you strive for clarity, focusing and refocusing, wiping away the grime until the image is true.

Populate

Characters at the 1pm lunch hour: guy with a fruit cup and Chris Carrabba hair.

Fragment

When Mom's not home, we use toilet paper to blow our noses.

Deep Fry

Ahmed's Kebab Van, Oxford, England, 6-15-06.
Shot with SonyDSC-P10.

Lit Drinks

Bourbon and Branch, San Francisco, 11-3-06.
Shot with Cat's Canon.

Molly and Alexx

Old Speedway Meadow, Golden Gate Park, 7-25-04.
Shot with Sony DSC-P10.

Mexican Jumping Beans

Jack's dorm room, 10-30-06.
Shot with Sony DSC-P10.

Potato Pinwheel

Stratford, England, 5-19-06.
Shot with Sony DSC-P10.

Beach Chairs

Moneglia, Italy, 7-30-06.
Shot with Sony DSC-P10.

Budding

Krystle's apartment, 7-2-07.
Shot with Sony DSC-P10.

Floating Flower

Professor Tallent's house, 8-11-07.
Shot with Canon HV-20.

Star Bracelets

Moneglia, Italy, 7-30-06.
Shot with Sony DSC-P10

Flatfish

Written, Directed, and Produced by Steven Tagle
Cinematography by Tracy Vo

How far would you go to keep a friend? When Barrett (Sean Howell) returns from his first quarter at college, his best friend, Benji (Nick Farrell), attempts to pull him back into the fantastic, insular world of their childhood where games prevail and rules are meant to be broken. The two friends transform Barrett’s new dress socks into a wolf puppet and a boy puppet and quickly adopt these personas. But when the game playing gets out of hand, the boys must use the puppets to confront their fears about life after high school, growing up, and possibly growing apart.

Model Man Introduction

The Last Good Man

Written, Directed, and Produced by Steven Tagle
Cinematography by Jeff Orlowski

Life at Jack’s Lounge is never what it seems, especially with the unexpected arrival of Audrey (Margaret Gabriel), a strikingly independent female patron. When young bartender Sam (Paul Rodrigues) falls in love with this mysterious beauty, he uncovers a web of lies and deceit that he must struggle to overcome if their relationship is to survive.

IMDB Profile

Model Man

Written, Directed, and Produced by Steven Tagle
Cinematography by Jack Conte

Tired of waiting for the perfect man to sweep her off her feet, scientist Adena Logan (Leah Elise Bailey) constructs a wind-up robot lover (Barrett Sheridan) in the basement of her small suburban home. Adena teaches Simon everything he needs to be the perfect partner: how to open doors, how to hold hands, how to kiss. But as their relationship deepens, Adena must prove to herself that Simon can genuinely love.

IMDB Profile