Various and Sundry: Only in LA, DVD-Rs, and Fountain Pens

Last night, they were filming a movie two doors down from our house. It is always a fascinating process to watch. Of course, I couldn’t find the movie (something called “Claire”) listed as “in production” in the IMDB, but it didn’t look like it was one of “those” movies.
Last night, for the first time, I attempted to use our DVD recorder to record. I suggessfully recorded a program from the TIVO to the DVD Recorder using “Save to VCR.”. However, when I attempted to finalize the recording, I got an Err-14 “DVD disc access error detected”. Very frustrating. Reading through the comments on Amazon, it looks like the device is very picky on the media it uses, and often fails on finalization. I’ll try what they suggest (unplugging the unit, waiting ½ hour, plugging it back in and trying again) tonight, and will see if I can find the recommended media. If problems continue to occur (and given that there is no firmware upgrade and we’re past return time), I think I’ll use it just as a DVD player, and buy a real DVD Recorder. Grrr…
I’m still trying to find out if one can bring fountain pens and ink cartridges on an airplane. I think, barring an answer, a pen and some cartridges will go in interoffice mail to myself at our Columbia MD office tomorrow. I did send this question to TSA, but so far, no response other than a daily “We’ve received your email” message.