Tuesday, May 31, 2005

'Deep Throat' Revealed

The Washington Post today confirmed that W. Mark Felt, a former number-two official at the FBI, was "Deep Throat," the secretive source who provided information that helped unravel the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s and contributed to the resignation of president Richard M. Nixon (full WaPo article).

Fascinating. ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN is one of my most memorable reads, a paradigm of nonfiction narrative.

I know you are, but what am I?

Thanks, Jim. Really.


You scored as Geek.

Geek

69%

Drama nerd

56%

Goth

56%

Loner

50%

Ghetto gangsta

38%

Punk/Rebel

25%

Prep/Jock/Cheerleader

19%

Stoner

6%

What's Your High School Stereotype?
created with QuizFarm.com

Ending the month on a good note

Received an acceptance package from Pam McCully of the print journal Lynx Eye for my poem, "Walking on Water." A pleasure to be included once again.

Bad Slogans

The latest slogan for New York's WEPN 1050 ESPN Radio: "You never know what's coming next."

This strikes me as particularly bad for a station that recently shuffled its programming.

IMDb: Shields Attacks Cruise For Criticizing Her Drug Use

Actress Brooke Shields has lambasted former pal Tom Cruise for criticizing her "misguided" use of drugs to combat her post-natal depression. Cruise - who claims to have helped people fight drug addictions through his controversial Scientology religion - recently attacked the Suddenly Susan star for becoming dependant on Paxil, following the birth of her daughter Rowan. But Shields is disgusted by the Top Gun star's "dangerous" comments and took a swipe at his Scientology beliefs, by saying she wouldn't take advice from someone who devotes his life to creatures from outer space. She fumes, "His comments are dangerous. He should stick to saving the world from aliens." Shields is currently weaning herself off her medication so she and husband Chris Henchy can have another child.

Monday, May 30, 2005

"Turning all the nighttime into the day."

It's 8:00 PM and the sun has yet to set in New York. I just walked a mile-plus working off some of that BBQ. As much as I love this time of year, with my background in academics, it always feels like a time to loaf. The longer I can keep from loafing, the sooner I'll come up with my next writing project.

Madagascar

My brother and I saw a matinee of the new CGI children's movie from Dreamworks. While it was pleasant and I laughed, I think the actors (Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, and Jada Pinkett-Smith) played it a little too straight to elicit the unexpected comedy I like best.

That said, it was a fine fish-out-of-water tale of a domesticated lion, giraffe, and hippo going after their adventurous zebra friend who dreams of life in the wild.

Shopping for NewsRadio

I spent the past couple of days shopping for the best price on the first two seasons of NBC's little-show-that-could, NewsRadio on DVD. Friday I went to the BJ's Wholesale Club in Westbury, and saw the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for $13.99. I bought LAST LULLABY, my first read by Denise Hamilton, but otherwise avoided impulse purchases.

Ultimately, I bought NewsRadio from DeepDiscountDVD.com for $27.87. (No tax, free shipping)

I caught most of the show in reruns on A&E. Here's a review by fellow Hofstra alum Francis Rizzo III. Francis worked on Hofstra's humor magazine Nonsense while I worked on the literary magazine Font. At one point the magazine offices were across from each other in the student union, and there was the odd skirmish between staffers.

Francis is now Director of Interactive Media at Hofstra, married, and with pet, Schnoodle. I wish him well.

Pre-Memorial BBQ

Yesterday I went to a pre-Memorial Day barbecue at my cousin Alan's house in nearby Westbury. In recent years, I've become more conscious of how much I consume at these events. It's easy to scarf down food so appealing and hot of the grill. I had:

Lunch

1 hot dog
1 hamburger
2 shrimp skewers
some handfuls of snack mix
half-a-cup of Pepsi with Lime
2 one-liter bottles of Poland Spring water

Dinner

A handful of battered shrimp
1 cocktail shrimp
1 hamburger with pickles
Two more bottles of Poland Spring

I balanced the food and drink with some backyard hoop-shooting, something I don't get to do on my own steep driveway and no-place-to-hang-a-basket. Notheless, basketball remains my favorite game because all you need are a ball, a basket, and yourself.

Saturday, May 28, 2005

AP: Big Ben's Silence Baffles Engineers

By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer Sat May 28, 9:27 AM ET

LONDON - Big Ben, the landmark London clock renowned for its accuracy and chimes, stopped ticking for 90 minutes, an engineer said Saturday.

Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue, recovering from breast cancer surgery, turns 37 today. All best to her.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

My Final Take on Star Wars I-III

As posted to Lee Goldberg's blog:

Episodes 1-3 are almost all backstory, the stuff good writing profs tell you to cut in favor of pace and dramatic value. As the movies unfolded, I came to believe Lucas should have left well enough alone.

My imagination had already filled in a backstory with the help of Alec Guinness's narration: the Jedi Knights were honorable protectors of the realm who learned to harness the very Force behind life to come to their aid. Darth Vader got carried away with what he could personally gain with his abilities. Using the Force for evil slowly ate away at him until he needed to wear the famous suit to survive. The End.

My biggest beef with Eps. 1-3 is that they do make the Jedi look bad--at least more petty. This image of the Jedi doesn't follow logically from the original trilogy. I'm reminded of Brian De Palma's MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie making Jim Phelps a villain--a possibility so beyond the original character's range it was laughable.

"De-rek Je-ter!"


(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Jeter runs into second baseman Robinson Cano and holds onto a pop-fly off the bat of Detroit Tigers' Marcus Thames.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Tom Cruise Jumps the Sofa (and the Shark)

Posted yesterday on IMDb:
Cruise: "I Can't Be Cool with Holmes"

Tom Cruise excused himself for leaping all over TV talk show Oprah Winfrey's sofa and giggling through their recent interview by stating love had turned him into a lunatic. The movie star spent the first half of his TV interview with Winfrey, which aired yesterday in America, cooing about his girlfriend Katie Holmes and punching the air. He said, "I can't be cool... I can't be laidback. It's something that has happened and I feel I want to celebrate it and I wanna celebrate her. She's a very special woman." But the movie star admits he was cool when they first started dating - as he laid on a series of romantic surprises including a motorcycle ride on a beach and decorating their hotel room in Rome, Italy with rose petals. He added, "I don't really go to restaurants because I like doing things... I'm a romantic, I love stuff like that... I like treating a woman the way that she deserves to be treated. I was raised by women and I love this woman. With me, it's scuba diving and motorcycles and roses. I like seeing people happy... and I celebrate that and so I feel like I wanna share it with people because it's something that's very special." And when Winfrey asked him if he truly was smitten with Holmes, he laughed, "I'm standing on your couch!"

And today:

Cruise Slams Shields' Drug Use

Tom Cruise has criticized Hollywood pal Brooke Shields' "misguided" use of the anti-depressant Paxil, while declaring the actress' career as over. In an interview with Billy Bush on TV show Access Hollywood, to be screened on Thursday, Cruise speaks of his disappointment to learn Shields used Paxil to fight post-natal depression following the birth of her daughter Rowan. Shields is currently weaning herself off her medication so she and husband Chris Henchy can have another child. Cruise, who claims to have helped people fight drug addictions through his controversial Scientology religion, says the Suddenly Susan actress should have used vitamins to help her feelings of despair. Cruise says, "Here is a woman, and I care about Brooke Shields because I think she is an incredibly talented woman. You look at, where has her career gone?" Despite the Minority Report actor's declaration her career is over, Shields is currently receiving rave reviews playing murderess Roxie Hart in the London theatre production of Chicago. Cruise maintains, "These drugs are dangerous. I have actually helped people come off. When you talk about postpartum, you can take people today, women, and what you do is you use vitamins. There is a hormonal thing that is going on, scientifically, you can prove that. But when you talk about emotional, chemical imbalances in people, there is no science behind that. You can use vitamins to help a woman through those things."

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

NCIS Finale

One of the principal characters on NCIS will not survive tonight's finale. Who will it be? Your guess is as good as mine. (Gulp.)

UPDATE (9:00 PM): After a good series of red herrings, it was who I thought it would be, my second-favorite character Kate Todd, sniped between the eyes by recurring nemesis Ari.

Years ago this would enrage me, but tonight I look back on what a neat, fully realized character Kate was and wish Sasha Alexander well.


Sasha Alexander, Special Agent Caitlin Todd on NCIS

Banes of Civilization

Sarah Weinman linked to an article on English exams where spelling will not count. As a college English prof and tutor, I see this as another of society's attempts to bolster self-esteem by ignoring harsh realities. Here are a few more concessions to the ego that annoy me:

- Contests where winners and losers get the same prize

- Bowling without gutters

- Weighted grades

- The option to continue a video game at the exact spot you died in a previous game

- Technology that extends the workday (cell phone, PDA, laptop, etc.)

- Technology that leads to excessive abbreviation and ignorance of proper punctuation (e-mail, instant messaging, etc.)

- Singers who recite more lyrics than they sing

Add your own pet peeves in the Comments section.

What's in a Nickname?

Marquette University has called for a vote on the school's nickname. This has me thinking of Hofstra's nickname change. Our teams used to be called the Flying Dutchmen and Dutchwomen. The name may be problematic for those of us who aren't Dutch, but I would rather hark back to the school's tradition than go to the current nickname, The Pride. Lions are a motif for us, and the name is innocuous enough, but actually naming our teams the Pride...Doesn't that seem just a bit too needy?

I'm also reminded how much time I used to spend coming up with names for characters. The truth is names can't do the work for you. If you make characters interesting, their names will be less important.

Ian Fleming chose the name "James Bond" because it sounded dull. Robert B. Parker's original first name for Spenser was David, after his firstborn. Parker expunged the "Davids" from his manuscript when his wife suggested their second son, Daniel, might be jealous.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Thieves Jargon Hiatus

Thieves Jargon, which published my speculative fiction piece "The Carrier," went offline over the weekend with ISP issues. Fear not. Editor Matt DiGangi has big plans for the new site and the TJ brand name. Stay tuned.

Ad Maniacs

On my budget, I use free services like Blogger and Geocities. My very first website was at Freeservers, which at the time had a single ad banner across the top of each page. Over the years, this has increased to a top banner, a right side banner, and a bottom banner.

I will not be cornered. I've moved my publishing history page to Geocities, which features the occasional popup and on right side ad bar.

Revising the Sith

I've read many complaints about Episode III, and I agree the movie is far from perfect. I would edit in at least a dozen places. But given my disappointment with the first two episodes, I had little hope Lucas would "redeem the series" with the third.

I went to see it to catch up with my Font friends. Part of how we bonded in the first place was quoting lines from Eps. 4-6 over piles of undergrad stories and poems.

We won't be quoting any lines from Eps. 1-3, but each movie was time shared out of our increasingly busy lives. I don't want to revise that.

Saturday, May 21, 2005

AP: Voice of Fred Flintstone Dies at 85

Henry Corden, the voice of cartoon caveman Fred Flintstone's "Yabba-dabba-doo!" for more than two decades, has died.

Friday, May 20, 2005

Weird Noir

It's been a mostly rainy day, and I'm tapped from last night's movie, but I've begun brainstorming on a story for Neddal Ayad's "weird noir" issue of Hardluck Stories Zine. Deadline is July 1.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

A Ticket Situation

A new plan has formed to see Revenge of the Sith tonight at one of my local theaters. I'm waiting to hear if tickets have been bought.

"I want those tix, not excuses."

Actually, my enthusiasm is nominal, but I couldn't pass up the Vader pun.

UPDATE (4:19 PM): The tickets have been bought. ("I have you now.")

All that remains is the line we must wait on. ("Patience!")

(11:49 PM): Thanks to one of our agents, we went to the head of the line as soon as we arrived. Overall pleased with the movie I was. See it again I may.

Batman Needs a Lozenge


So I had the WB's preview of Batman Begins on after Smallville last night. Christian Bale is fine as Bruce Wayne, but his Batman voice sounds like he's coming down with something.

"What are you?"

"I'm Batman. And I have a cold."

IMDb: Grammer to Play Blue Beast in 'X-Men 3'

Fans of Kelsey Grammer are set to find him tough to recognize in his next project - he's playing a furry blue monster in the second X-Men sequel. In X-Men 3, the former Frasier star will play oversized mutant Beast, who has not yet appeared in any of the franchise's installments. While there has been a shocked reaction to Grammer's casting, producers of the movie insist he's the perfect choice for the part - because Beast is the most intelligent of all the mutants. Snatch star Vinnie Jones is also set to undergo a huge image overhaul when he plays villainous Juggernaut in the movie. His character is a 900 pound metal-clad battering ram. The sci-fi series stars Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Romijn. The movie, to be directed by Matthew Vaughn, is set to debut in May next year.

Offhand I like this casting.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Chow Yun-Fat

The popular Hong Kong actor turns 50 today.


Chow Yun-Fat (L) and Seann William Scott in Bulletproof Monk (2003)

Mental DJ

Can't get too upset about rejection with "Kookaburra" playing in my head.

And I hear "Disco Inferno" coming up.

Burn that mother down

Square One

I don't mean the excellent PBS math program, but that "Lost and Found" has been rejected by Slow Trains.

So it's back to rooting around for a market, but I have expanded the story to just over 1,500 words.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Reading too much into this


The description of Smallville's fourth season finale reads: "...packed with shocking revelations, betrayal, murder and an 8-minute preview of the film "Batman Begins."

I clicked on the picture above at the WB Network site, and the first thing I read was, "In the wake of his parents' murder..." For a second, I thought Ma and Pa Kent were going to be killed off. Of course, I was reading the synopsis for Batman Begins.

Next season Smallville moves to Thursdays, 8pm.

"Negative. It didn't go in..."

"Just impacted on the side."

With these famous lines from Episode IV, I report that plans to see Revenge of the Sith with my Font friends on opening day have fallen through.

This is actually fine by me. The longer I hold out from contributing to Darth Lucas's empire the better.

UPDATE (2:58 PM): We've rescheduled for Monday, the 23rd, if only the online ticket sites recover from the initial Sith siege.

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Jeremiah Healy

Today is a birthday for Jeremiah Healy, author of the well-respected John Francis Cuddy P.I. series. Not only did the series span thirteen books and fifteen years, but each book had a topical premise and detailed execution. Like many authors, Healy drew on life experience, his service as a military policeman and his education in law to fuel his protagonist and the books.

In recent years, Healy has turned to legal thrillers: THE STALKING OF SHEILAH QUINN under his own name and the Mairead O'Clare series under the pseudonym Terry Devane. A past president of the Private Eye Writers of America, Healy's short stories have appeared in many anthologies and collections.

I e-mailed Healy some years ago after reading the Cuddy book YESTERDAY'S NEWS. I mentioned I was a writer and he graciously sent me an information packet on how to break into the mystery genre.

Healy was American Guest of Honor at the 2004 Bouchercon. In a press release prior to the conference, he discussed his successful battle with prostate cancer and includes an informative essay on his website.

While Parker and Lehane may have more name recognition, Healy's is the example I want to follow. He's never failed to do the research and to work that research seamlessly into lively characters and lucid prose. He's survived adversity with courage and good humor.

Happy birthday, Jerry.

Saturday, May 14, 2005

Happy Birthday, George Lucas

George Lucas is 61 years old today, and I think I've hit on the core reason I'm less pleased with Eps. 1-3 than with 4-6: Less character development.

I haven't seen enough of Qui-Gon (quickly gone) Jinn and Mace Windu to root for them the way I did Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Lando, and even Wedge Antilles ("Rebel base, this is Rogue 2. I've found them. Repeat, I've found them.")

Thanks to mass media, I've heard Qui-Gonn and Mace Windu are powerful Jedi, but aside from some fancy work with a light saber (which I'd expect from any Jedi), I haven't seen in the movies themselves what makes these characters unique.

I'll say the same for the young Anakin and Obi-Wan. At this stage, Anakin is merely tempted toward the Dark Side, which adds up to brooding onscreen ("I hate them. I hate them so much! I hate them!"), and Obi-Wan has yet to become the wise witness to history portrayed by Alec Guiness. Even Yoda seems more the prissy headmaster than the crafty grandfather.

In short, these characters have yet to be put in positions to really show what they're made of. Many of Anakin's formative years—an excellent chance for viewers to warm to him—were passed over with the ten-year gap between Episode I and II.

When I grow up to be a man


For those who see a resemblance between Tom Welling (left) and Christopher Reeve, or who can imagine Welling's Clark Kent growing into Reeve's Superman, ABC Family Channel is running a Smallville marathon followed by 1978's Superman. They're calling it Super Sunday.

Trivia: Christopher Reeve was twenty-five when he began playing the adult Clark Kent, only a year older than Tom Welling was when he began playing the teenaged Kent.

What'd I tell you?

Link from Jen Jordan: The Force-O-Meter says I am

Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi

Yoda respects your talents, and even death won't stop you from floating around giving young Luke advice.


This jibes with a recent entry.

Friday, May 13, 2005

Revisiting Chinatown

Bryon Quertermous watched Roman Polanski's Chinatown recently and had this to say:
I finally gave CHINATOWN a sporting chance last night. I rented it for free from the library, so there was no money on the line, and from the moment I popped in the DVD I knew this was going to be the time I'd "get" it. And I did. I liked it a lot. It had the same feel and mood and vibe that THE BIG SLEEP and THE MALTESE FALCON give, but with a bit more of a modern spin. I enjoyed watching Jack Nicholson and there were some good moments in the movie, but I still don't see it as a GREAT movie. There are plenty of movies, PI and otherwise, that are much better and have done more with, and for, the form, so I don't see why this movie gets special billing.

This could be because I'm coming to the movie late and all of the secrets had been revealed, but still, I don't think that's it. And that's one of my biggest questions with this movie. I don't get what the whole sister/daughter kinky family triangle has to do with the main story of the water shortage plot. They never mesh and one never really has anything to do with the other. But none of that matters. The plot zipps along after a slow start and about an hour in I was ready to go to sleep but it kicked it up right then and I was dragged along to the end. I think my biggest complaint is that there wasn't enough character stuff for me. I've grown so used to my PI stories being as much about the PI character as the PI's case and there is none of that here.

I commented:

It's been about a year since I saw CHINATOWN for the first time myself. Have a look at review I blogged.

Gittes is the best role I've seen Nicholson play. Jake may not compare to book PIs, but the debate should be how he compares to other screen PIs. Since 1974 there've been a boatload of lukewarm adaptations of book-first PIs: Robert Urich and Joe Mantegna Spenser, Powers Boothe and James Caan as Philip Marlowe, Jeff Bridges as Scudder, Denzel as Easy Rawlins, or Alec Baldwin as Robicheaux. I'll take Gittes over any of them. He was made for the movies. Towne knew what had to happen onscreen to make Jake memorable.

Two other great screen original PIs? Jeff Bridges as Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski and Bill Pullman as Darryl Zero (ZERO EFFECT).

Shred of Evidence 10

Editor Megan Powell has posted the tenth issue of her short fiction e-zine, with the following lineup:

"Dynamics of a Hanging" by Tony Pi

"Perihelion" by Ed Lynskey

"A Sack of Potatoes" by Sarah Weinman

"Piggy Eyes" by Iain Rowan

"Compulsion" by Herschel Cozine

"A Pain in the Neck" by Virginia G. McMorrow

Thursday, May 12, 2005

"I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan."

A college friend of mine, now a blogger, is debating whether to attend her high school reunion:

The cons are many: it's far (though I could use the trip as an excuse to do other things on the East Coast), I have a hot date who, though he may consent to go with me, would be bored to tears by the entire event, I hated most of the people with whom I went to high school, I left things rather awkwardly with the people I DID like, the very idea of spending time in a tacky hotel in the suburbs, even if the bar is open and the food is free, me + open bar + people I don't like = barbs and other snarky quips I will never be able to take back, it costs $99, and if I'm going to spend $99 in NY I'm going to sit in the first row at Glengarry Glen Ross.

The only pro is sweet, sweet schadenfreude.

Any thoughts?

I commented:

I skipped my tenth-year reunion for many of the same reasons you're pondering. The day after the reunion, the Anakin to my Obi-Wan--a good friend with a bad temper who drifted toward an ornery crowd--sent me a scathing e-mail berating me for not attending. Luckily, I remained calm in response and we were able to catch up, to the extent I wanted.

Of course, I didn't have a date for the reunion and hadn't progressed enough to throw shady fruit at classmates.


When last I e-mailed my high school friend, we were on good terms. I wish him the best.

I will not let this day pass without hope.

Scroll down a couple of entries and you'll see I've spent the day shopping a story to two markets. I have no preference for "Lost and Found" over other recent works. It's just that May 12th is one of my favorite days of the year for no apparent reason. This year it happens to be sunny and mild, and I got my workout in early.

The mag I tried this morning replied with a rejection this afternoon, and I thought When I am going to be in this good a mood again? Why not work to sustain it? And so I did. There's something hopeful in simply having my work under consideration.

Great Simile

From IMDb, Ron Howard on working with Russell Crowe:
Howard Struggled with Crowe's Moods

Cinderella Man director Ron Howard struggled with Russell Crowe's mood swings on the set of the boxing movie. The movie maker - who directed Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, which won them both Academy Awards - had to schedule his shoot depending on what mood his leading man was in. But he insists the end result, and Crowe's genius, made the effort worthwhile. Howard explains, "Directing Russell is like shooting on a tropical island. The weather is going to change several times a day, but you're shooting there for a reason. Sometimes those dark clouds are just what you need. And sometimes you wish it would stop raining so you can do the sunny scene."

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

"Lost and Found"

Crime Spree has rejected my above-titled story of man who fears his illicit affair will be exposed by a misplaced a ticket stub.

The comment I'm pondering: "[The story]'s not quite 'crime fiction' enough..."

I wondered about this going in, not sure where the story fell. I'm going to try a few mainstream mags next.

UPDATES

(5/12/05 - AM 6:47 ET):
I've tweaked the story and submitted it to Down in the Dirt: The Magazine Revealing All Your Dirty Little Secrets, which is published in both HTML and PDF.

(5/12/05 - PM 2:05 ET): Received a mostly form rejection. At least it was quick.

(5/12/05 - PM 4:01 ET): Submitted the story to Slow Trains. Trust me, I know what I'm doing.

Poker Jumping the Shark

I've written a couple of stories featuring poker, but I've never put actual money on any game of chance. After hearing Jim Swain's anecdotes, I'm even less tempted. Between 2002 and 2004, though, I enjoyed watching the World Series of Poker on ESPN.

Since then, several poker and blackjack shows have entered the mainstream, including ESPN's own drama Tilt, which led me to discover how little I care about poker players' backstories.

The latest poker show I've sampled is Game Show Network's Poker Royale, pitting three celebrities against three professional players. I'm only watching this for sideline reporter Lisa Dergan.

Sidelines in poker? Come on. Poker is a game. Chess is a game. Scrabble is a game. Spelling bees are contests. I'd rather watch sports.

To Reprint or Not?

Reacting to the loss of HandHeldCrime's archives, Ray Banks writes:

And now I'm kind of at a loss. Seeing as it's gone, there's no valid link to [Banks's story] 'The Monkey Man'. And seeing as that story makes me shudder now, I'm not that inclined to post it here. So maybe it's best I leave it to the ether.

An excerpt of my comment:

I can relate to the cringe looking back at previous work, but IMO, if one editor liked it, others might--as might readers. The only pieces that really embarrass me are very early, when I thought rewriting was make-work.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

For Old Times' Sake

HandHeldCrime—the e-zine that published my C.J. Stone story "For Old Times' Sake" in its final issue (July 2003)—has taken down its archives.

I'll always be grateful to founders Victoria Esposito-Shea and Jamey Dumas for my first sale.

I'm on the lookout for a reprint market.

Monday, May 09, 2005

Don't Give a Sith (Or Do I?)

I remember anticipating Star Wars Episode I two years before it premiered. On May 20, 1999, my Font friends and I fell in line at 3:30pm for a 10pm show.

I was majorly let down by Phantom Menace's dragging pace and quantification of the Force into mitichlorians, not to mention a kiddie Anakin, but on May 17, 2002, the same friends and I fell in line at 1:30am for a 3:30am showing of Attack of the Clones. I was let down a little less majorly by Hayden Christensen's wooden acting.

So far no plans for Revenge of the Sith, but if I get a call, I'll be there.

Ours is not to reason why. Ours is but to do or do not. There is no try.

Liquid Cool

Liquid Ohio editor Amber Goddard has accepted three of my poems for publication in 2007 or early 2008. I'm a patient man, and thrilled to be part of a zine with high ideals and spirit.

Reuters: Pizza delivery ends Australian prison siege

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian prison siege ended on Monday after a group of inmates agreed to release a guard they had held for two days in return for a delivery of pizzas, prison officials said.

Sunday, May 08, 2005

My Current Writing Process

One piece of writing advice I'm trying to follow is to write every day. For better or worse, my process this past week was to think about writing, to try writing and come up dry for days, only to break out this morning.

Whatever works. This may be why I haven't settled on a novel. I like the freedom to follow random ideas where they lead. Ideally, I might be able to work on a novel and a story and a poem in the same day...I said "ideally," right?

Saturday, May 07, 2005

Thursday, May 05, 2005

"Indy, why does the floor move?"


Prolific Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies turns 61 today.

Stella at Dead End

Caught up with Charlie Stella at Dead End Books last night and bought his latest, CHEAPSKATES. Charlie talked frankly about the economic reality of being a working writer, namely losing more money than you make. Despite this, Stella has the writing bug, and wouldn't give it up with a gun to his head. I'm starting to realize I have the same passion, and I hope to develop the discipline both to plan projects and see them through no matter what.

After the signing, I had a Coke with Charlie, his wife Ann Marie, his buddy Doc Nyland, unpublished novelist Robert, and Paul, Eileen, and Colleen of Dead End. It was an evening of good fellowship with Charlie, who, about a year ago, went out of his way to offer feedback on my story "Home", which led to its eventual acceptance at SHOTS.

Lifetime Spenser Movies Coming to DVD

I started reading Robert Parker's Spenser series in 1993, shortly before Lifetime aired the first Spenser TV movie, CEREMONY. Lifetime then picked up the rights to re-air Spenser: For Hire, and—being more of a purist in those days—I found the TV movie much closer to Parker's Spenser than the series.

Many fans have called for the release of Spenser: For Hire on DVD; having watched all the episodes in reruns, I can't say that's a set I'd like to own. But TVShowsOnDVD reports that Rykodisc will release the four Lifetime Spenser movies as a set on June 28.

No one has done a perfect Spenser onscreen. I believe this is because Spenser himself is too perfect in the books for any actor to pull off. By the time the ABC series aired in 1985, Parker had already smoothed Spenser's rough edges, those distinctive flaws that give actors room to play.

By the way, the Lifetime Urich movies were co-written by Robert and Joan Parker, a fact Parker snippily denied when the A&E Joe Mantegna Spensers hit the air.

UPDATE (5/05/05): Lee Goldberg, who wrote for Spenser: For Hire, offers this take:

Those crappy, flatly-directed, and exceedingly dull MOWs shouldn't be mistaken for the underappreciated SPENSER FOR HIRE series (and I'm not just saying that because I wrote for it)...

I commented on Lee's full entry:

Spenser was best when he was more rough-edged and morally gray. Like Keith, I didn't quite buy Urich as Spenser because his wholesomeness seeped into all his roles.

I'm a fan of Avery Brooks, but I've always thought he played Hawk too angry. Then again Parker's Hawk as written is too impassive and taciturn to appeal to a leading actor.

Barbara Stock was strikingly beautiful, but Parker's Susan--before she got so full of herself that she could only lunch on lettuce leaves--was supposed to have more physical presence than classic beauty.

Speaking of presence, I agree with Tod that Mantegna lacks it. The A&E movies seemed to be wish-fulfillment for Parker, who got to have more of his own words show up onscreen. Unfortunately, Parker's familiar (tired?) banter played flatter onscreen than it does in the books.

Sure, the Urich movies were shot in Toronto, but Urich is a better physical match than Mantegna for Spenser. You've got Avery Brooks as Hawk, and Parker's influence is there, but not overbearing. I'll buy the set.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

What to Keep, What to Toss?

Last week's recovery of my graduate poetry text has prompted my latest effort to clear up my basement library/office. This used to be where my father kept his medical books, and for a while it was where I stuck every book, magazine, and memento that no longer fit in my bedroom.

The worst cause of clutter? Blank paper. Notebooks, looseleaf, memo pads—kept from when writing was uncharted territory I wasn't sure how to explore.

Ironically, the book I have mostly filled with notes for my last five or six projects is a one-subject, 70-sheet spiral notebook.

A close second-worst cause of clutter: syllabi, term papers, and tests from college. I may have kept these out of a subconscious desire to do better in those classes.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

"Where's the Beef?"

AP: CLEARFIELD, Pa. - The burger war is growing. Literally. Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, which lost its crown as the home of the world's biggest burger earlier this year, is now offering a new burger that weighs a whopping 15 pounds.

Dubbed the Beer Barrel Belly Buster, the burger comes with 10.5 pounds of ground beef, 25 slices of cheese, a head of lettuce, three tomatoes, two onions, a cup-and-a-half each of mayonnaise, relish, ketchup, mustard and banana peppers — and a bun.

It costs $30.

Happy Birthday, Archangel

Yesterday on Sarah Weinman's blog, I confessed to a childhood watching shows like Knight Rider, Street Hawk, and of course, Airwolf.

Creator Don Bellisario drew on his own experience as a Marine chopper pilot for this series. Expert pilot and brooding loner Stringfellow Hawke (future horror-show Jan-Michael Vincent) steals a prototype military chopper and is recruited by The Firm, in the person of one-eyed Michael "Archangel" Coldsmith Briggs III, for covert missions.

"Archangel" actor and Floral Park, NY native Alex Cord turns 72 today.

Sunday, May 01, 2005

May I Submit

Polished and submitted the aforementioned story to Crime Spree. Also submitted a poem to Lunatic Chameleon's upcoming online Anger issue.