The quest for knowledge marches on: NYTimes drops some science on the leftovers issue. I have to admit that I was one of those people leaving hot food out to cool down to room temperature before putting it in the refrigerator. Why? I thought about it after reading the article and I couldn't tell you. Probably something I heard somewhere from someone (who was probably only passing along something that someone had told them once). There's nothing worse than things you think you know.
Also, John August brings some clarity and concision to the subject of screenwriting. And speaking of things you only think you know, I love the several commenters getting their backs up over August's slightly heterodox point that screenplays are not character driven. In a way, I agree with their point, that it's a sucky script in which the characters are whipped hither and thither solely to drive the story. But that's just bad writing. I don't think it's a counter to August. I've tried to write screenplays a few times, and I've been in classes and writing groups with others working on screenplays. From what I can tell, a good script calls for the kind of ruthlessness from the writer that August is getting at in his list. Characters can't be driving things. There's so little time that everything's got to be moving the story or else it's gotta be pushed overboard.