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