sent from: The High Street, Esher, UK. destination: Long Beach, California, USA

    I think I obtained this card in the early ’90s but the card itself feels like it comes from the ’70s or ’80s. Toledo is a gorgeous town just south of Madrid. I always loved the line in Highlander (the first one, the good one) where the sword expert breathlessly declares a piece of metal she found as from a ‘Toe-lee-doh Say-la-maynca’ sword.

Highlander: Toledo Salamanca – The sword of Iman Fasil was a prop sword that is not available commercially. Historically it did not exist. The blade was custom forged as a prop blade for the movie; the hilt was a redecorated hilt from a decorative sword that existed in the 1980’s. There may be similar versions (though not jewel-encrusted) on the market.

    Here’s a May 2011 photo I took of Toledo, from across the river gorge

As I struggle to address the number of comments in time to present work to the director next week, feeling the sense of judgement and disappointment as I present ever-improving for not-yet-perfect works in progress, I happened to listen to the screenwriter for Toy Story 3 [Michael Arndt] talk about the long process of shaping the story Pixar had devised into a workable screenplay. It took many months of writing and re-writing, of getting stuck on problem areas, of fortuitous accidents, of tiny inspirations and collaborative ruminations, a process no one would consider unusual. Yet, as I push into areas that could truly be considered largely uncharted waters, somehow progress must be immediate, predictable and utterly without flaw. Something’s wrong with that picture.