If you don't, you might want to leave now. I can't imagine this being interesting to anyone who hasn't at least met me, and few have heard of me who haven't met me. I'm no star.

That's a picture of me to the right, taken by a friend of mine at work, so it's recent. This and this are older pictures, in case you need multiple images to settle things in your mind.

I used to go on to say, "Reed Oliver is best known for directing The Right Girl, an independent feature film currently in postproduction." That's not really true now, if it ever was. For one, Gwendolyn, the producer, and I have decided that The Right Girl is done, so it's not really in postproduction any more. Secondly, I have no real idea what I'm best known for. I definitely wanted to be best known for directing The Right Girl, but now I'm not certain. Maybe for having a big heart or being a good friend. Or possibly for having a good Halloween party, though that doesn't seem too fame-inducing either.

I'm a movie reviewer for Hybrid Magazine. Here's a list of my reviews and interviews for Hybrid - it's mostly current, as I haven't reviewed much lately.

Update September 19, 2002

Kind of silly to say update there, but I believe in some sort of continuity. Wow, I guess most folks gave up on this page. No fewer than two friends actually bugged me about an update in May or something. Thanks Jennifer and Barb. Love you guys.

Because of confusion and frustration with the whole URL and web forwarding thing, reedoliver.com doesn't send you to this page right now. I'll probably pay for that soon, but that definitely contributed to keeping me from updating.

I still work at The Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts (TCRLA), and it's not bad. I know, I should have more enthusiasm, but I've made a commitment to myself to not quit for at least a year, no matter how frustrated I get, and that's done weird things to my emotions. For one thing, I've gotten severely depressed over the last few months (I know, I know, how could I tell the difference? Trust me, this is much much worse and longer lasting than before. Whee!) since apparently the blowing up and quitting in righteous indignation behaviour pattern was more fundamental to my psyche than I realized.

I did finally complete a first draft of Census 3000, my sci-fi script, in July, so that's a major milestone: the first feature-length screenplay I've written on my own (as opposed to the co-written The Right Girl, for example). Now, I have at least a dozen pages of notes about what needs to change for the next draft. Several of my friends have been supporting my writing, especially Jeff Coleman, an old high school buddy currently living in New York City and creater of Progressions, a comic book available both online and in print. I personally prefer the print version, the feel of the paper and holding the art as I look at it, but don't let that stop you from checking out the site.

A lot happened this summer. I found and lost (mostly) an old girlfriend from Rice. We dated in the Fall of 1992 and got back together for a couple of weeks in June while she was in town. Sadly, we've lost touch since then, but I hope our friendship is still salvageable. I got on the insulin pump. That's a big deal for my diabetes, follow the link if you want to know what it is. Diabetes dominates my life like ... no metaphors really get it across. Not a moment of my day passes where diabetes is not an issue, whether I'm thinking about it, denying it, or simply letting it sit in the background, always aware in case of trouble. That probably made no sense, but it's a big deal to me.

My new roommate John Savage moved in at the end of July. He's from North Carolina, teaches ESL (English as a Second Laguage) math and English at Pearce Middle School, and is working out to be a good, considerate, and nice roommate. I still miss Chris, though. He moved out in April and I still miss him, especially since it's time to prepare for the Halloween party. He says he's doing ok in San Diego, but he misses Austin. Apparently, there's just not enough to do in that town for Dr. Myers.

Sad news:
Sarah Ing, one of the main actors in The Right Girl, passed away in the first week of September. She was so funny, definitely weird and strongly opinionated. It drove her crazy to play such a normal character in The Right Girl, but she and Quin did a great job. She never even got to see it.

I've decided to take a break from pusuing a love-life till my self-life is a little more together. That doesn't mean I'm turning everyone away, however, so feel free to make your move. I'll let you know when I win the lottery, too.

I've been reading a lot of webcomics lately, and I wanted to share my favorites in case you like that sort of thing. Sluggy Freelance, MegaTokyo, and Bruno are this summer's top three.

Check out the March '01, July '01, August '01, October '01, December '01 and March '02 updates!

Thanks for listening. Please check in again sometime for my next sporadic update.