And I'm looking at forums, the same places I usually despair at morons not giving anything new a chance and all I'm seeing are people who think this is a good idea. Are you all insane?
So many reasons why this is a bad idea. Let's go through a few really obvious ones first of all.
1) There was a REALLY good reason why Chris was kicked off the X-books in the first place.
2) The x-books were not in particularly good shape in 1991.
3) We've done the alternate universe schtick in the x-books already and much better- Age of Apocalypse and the much under-rated Factor X.
4) Claremont has already returned to the X-books at least twice and both times he was at best mediocre.
5) At best it will be a confusing albeit slightly charming and amusing gimmick- at worst it will be a confusing and crap series that will lose more readers than it brings on board.
6) George Lucas. That's right. Yeah, see, now you're seeing my point(s).
Chris Claremont wrote some tremendous stuff back in the 1970's and 1980's. And then he wrote some really awful stuff. I mean really horrible. Dreadful. Also, Chris is a bit of an arrogant jackass who doesn't like other writers messing with 'his' characters and who reacts badly to change.
Another huge reason is that Chris simply can't hack it anymore in the current marketplace. Compared to the new level of talent in the industry such as Robert Kirkman, Warren Ellis, Matt Fraction, Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, just to mention a handful, Claremont is just apallingly out of touch and not interested in varying his tired old windy dialogue routine.
Nice idea, Joe but I wouldn't bet your kid's scholarship fund on the longevity. I give it about 12 issues, possibly as far as 25 issues but don't see it going any further than that.
Of course this brings us back to the name in the credits of episode 20 where we finally get to see the legendary William Bell, founder of Massive Dynamics and old buddy of Dr. Walter Bishop. And, yes, who else could it be but the one and only Leonard Nimoy himself! Not content with some wonderful cameo screen-time in the aforementioned STAR TREK movie, Nimoy now gets to return to tv in a role tailor made for a veteran actor of his status and allure. The scene at the end of this episode is pure Abrams and suits Nimoy down to the ground with his William Bell emerging out of shadow and into a reality, even if it's not our own reality, which the reverse zoom end shot beautifully shows.
Damn the cliff-hangers anyway!!
You need to get hold of this- guaranteed to enjoy.
For some odd reason, I decided that one of the 12 stories in the new collection I'm currently finishing up, should be divided into ten separate pieces, each based on a different song by a fictional American singer-songwriter along the lines of Jackson Browne or Warren Zevon.
Which is all great, and is thoroughly fun, something which I need writing to be if I'm to get through it in one mental piece, but the actual logistics of doing the story this way means that I end up doing almost as much work as if I was doing another nine stories. Also, on top of that is the fake research info I have to 'bible' out for the fictional singer's back catalogue and his quotes and so on and so forth about everyone from John Lennon, Michael Jackson, R Kelly and through to Trent Reznor.
It is fun, and I'm not complaining- just needing to share some of the processes I'm currently dealing with as it's such an experience.
Also, the fact that at least half of the pieces in this story are done in different formats such as blog, email, instant message conv. doesn't help cut down on the intensive work approach.
But, I think it'll pay off in the end, and it'll hopefully be like a treat in the middle of the book, a single story that opens out into all these little fun directions and morsels.
Only time and the readers of my book, when it comes out, can tell.
But for us lesser mortals, it's still tempting to be delighted with some new innovation or solution to a creative problem that we've come up with. For me, right now, it's all about my second book, a collection of short stories called 'The better part of love.'
Since my first book was probably too many different flavors, some of which undoubtedly clashed (but not in a bad way, just not similar styles)- a fact I knew going into it, but I wanted to put out a wide range of what I had done and could do so it was a conscious decision- I wanted the next book to have a very definite shape and cohesive form.
This will lead to both the great advantage of a common theme and also the trap of having everything come off as possibly too similar or lacking in variety. But I think it'll work.
Right now I have seven out of twelve stories done. Done and shifted into the 'completed' sub-folder. Of the stories left to finish up, I've completely changed one, merged two with other stories and added a new one. And there are still three I'm not sure about. Only one of those three will make the final cut, that much I do know.
It is a fascinating and very intuitive/experience driven process. Probably the person closest to me in terms of creative thinking and some common bkgrd experiences is my friend Rick. Both of us started out doing small press writing and design and I think, both of us learned a lot from those days of xeroxing and giant floor lay-outs.
With so much completely new material and topics in the new book, I'm learning in leaps and bounds with everything I do. It's very much a solution driven process and is very similar to acting in the techniques and again 'processes' that I'm using, devising and throwing around.
For each of the stories, I'm using whatever it takes to make the story credible, real or able to fulfill it's purpose. When I started, I had vague ideas for a lot of the titles. It's mostly been a case of title first and then story to fill in but in some cases, I knew the whole flow right from the start. With other stories, I've taken two weak ideas and put them together to come up with one strong one.
I'm also seeking to flex my structural muscles somewhat and experiment with story set-up, boundaries and so on. In some stories this takes the form of lists in the middle of the narrative. In other stories, it's putting in a score-card that's updated as it goes and in another story it's using quotes, clips and fragments of fictional narrative to convey the complex nature of the issues at hand.
And then there's the story I decided to make into ten tiny stories, all connected via ten songs by a fictional recording artist and all using different narrative forms. Why? It just felt right when I thought of it.
I've learned to trust my instincts at this point and I know that if something feels right, then it will work and if something just isn't giving me that creative rush of excitement or enthusiasm, then it most likely won't thrill anyone reading it either.
This piece below is to do with how we view love after love goes sour. It's looking at a relationship that could have so easily gone one way but didn't and asking questions such as what do the good times mean to us when we hit the bad times and how much of a false picture do we build up of someone else.
Enjoy.
(oh, and if you haven't bought my first book yet, then go to http://tinyurl.com/notionscolinfox
The better part of Love
It was the better part of hillbilly love. If you can laugh when the zipper on a mock crock boot gets stuck and won’t come off whilst trying to hurriedly remove each other’s clothes in the best movie fashion, then that’s love. Or at least fun.
If you can laugh hysterically after having love-making interrupted by a neighbor’s Dukes of Hazzard car-horn as he passes the house, then that’s the better part of a love that’s a friendship as well.
The last thing you want to think about when being intimate with your partner is a neighbour who we suspected of being border-line retarded, thought the height of sophistication was tucking his jeans inside his shoes and not picking his nose too obviously, in Public.
‘Dale.’ We both said at the same time as the brief Confederate cacophony came from the road.
The bed shook with our laughter.
Every single person who's given in to cynicism, apathy and boredom. Fuck each and every one of these nay-saying bastards who sit back and criticize anyone who actually thinks they can make a difference or who cares enough to get involved.
It's easy to point fingers and moan about celebrities whilst at the same time flicking onto E-News for the latest Britney crotch flash or extra ounce of fat update.
Oh there's Angelina adopting another baby, ha ha. Fuck off. You'd rather the child die in some shit-hole in Aids infested Africa so you'd be deprived of a cheap comment to make at her expense?
Well, there's proof all around us that making an effort isn't something to be scoffed at but rather can produce some startling results. Look at last week's election, for one example. More people than ever turned out, lined up and made their voice heard. Every single one of those votes counted for something. Not a single one of the lazy arrogant apathetic bastards who didn't vote mattered. Not one. They achieved nothing. All they managed to do was guarantee themselves a seat on the side-lines far away from one of the most historic elections in modern history.
And for every voice that groans at celebrities getting involved, you know what? Shut the fuck up. When John Lennon was asked what he hoped to achieve by staying in bed for weeks in a hotel room in Toronto back in the late 1960's in his 'Bed-In' protest, he replied that he would be in the news anyway, so it might as well be for something worthwhile, like talking about peace or making more people have to discuss the issue rather than what he or Yoko was wearing and where they were drinking. And he was right.
You don't like Bono talking about Africa? Too bad. If even one child is helped or one debt wiped out, then it was worth it. And he knows that. As a former hardcore Christian in word AND deed, Paul 'Bono' Hewson has always tried to live his life with a conscience.
Look at Brad Pitt and his 'Make it Right Foundation'. NOLA is no longer the juicy issue that it once was but it still remains devastated, abandoned and a disaster zone. Brad, through his charity organisation has worked hard to change that and continues to do so. As I'm typing this, the 84th home has just been completed in the rebuilding of the ninth ward in new flood efficient structures, designed by some of today's finest architects and supported by a wide ranging base of contributions and donations of both time and money. This will be the 84th home out of 500 homes which will be given to the people who lost their homes during Hurricane Katrina.
We can m ake a difference. We can change injustice, annoyances and grievances. We all can, but it starts with us making a decision to get involved, begins with our realisation that the 'cool' cynicism of mass-produced bunny t-shirts or sarcastic slogans on coffee mugs doesn't change the fact that there is a whole world out there that we can make a difference in.
1) 'Somebody's Baby' - Jackson Browne,
Such a quintessential perfect piece of American pop. On the surface it's music-meister Browne's ode to the songs of longing and desperate teenage love that he grew up on but scratch beyond that skin and the song touches the longing and almost aching need to find that sense of identity through love and relationships in Modern America.
2) 'The River' - Bruce Springsteen
Jersey blue-collar society writ large, 'The River' is a pure slice of American culture wrapped up in a wonderfully catchy rock song. Lyrics as crisp and succinct as Dylan with the powerful raw sound of the boss at his best, singing about his people, his life, his culture, his country. Beautiful, dangerous and America through and through.
3) 'New York State of Mind' - Billy Joel
A NYC native, Joel wrestled with a lot of the same east-coast native demons as his peers in the music business did and for a golden period in the heydays of the 1970's, used these demons along with his insatiable drive and ambition all flavored with an immense talent to capture the American reality on music. This is a heart-felt love song to New York itself but on a much bigger level, this is Joel saying that this is his country, his America and he can't help loving it, warts and all.
4) 'Delilah' - The Plain White Tees
This song from the chicago indie darlings of a few fruitless pre-Delilah little league years has come to mean so much to a new generation of young Americans that it's effect can't be under-estimated just because it's a song that seems so familiar on many levels and takes it's cues from a faux-1960's hippy acoustic explosion. 'Delilah' is pure generational angst and the fear/Estacy of growing up in modern America.
5) 'I Still Haven't Found what I'm looking for' - U2
.It took an Irish rock group wandering around in the Desert at the edge of California, playing with that wonderfully messy area of music where Rock meets Blues to create this masterpiece of identity in today's society and the essential questing spirit that underlines and informs the constantly changing identiy of America and it's people.
6) ' Little Pink Houses' - John Mellencamp.
Bob Dylan wrote that one man with a guitar could change the world and John Mellencamp took his bet and raised it with this paean to the tantalising, blinding, maddening but also beautiful and forgiving landscape of Americana, snapshotted with his thunderous chords, tremendous voice and ultimately truthful lyrics. America is you and me.
7) 'For America' - Jackson Browne
As an intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate, politically involved individual, Browne was always going to run into questions of patriotism, American identity and accusations of being on the wrong side of the fence. In this song, he faces these accusations straight on and asks all the right questions and offers what answers can be given to such essentially unknowable issues.
8) 'The Unforgiven' - Metallica
Growing up was the theme of Metallica's 'Black' album that caused so much controversy amongst those who couldn't grow up. The album was stuffed to the brim with songs hailing a new direction and asking all manner of difficult puzzling challenges. What was America, what did it mean to grow up and old in such a place. How did a heavy metal group, for many, the ultimate form of arrested teenage development, fit into that scheme of things?
9) 'Don't Stop Believing' - Journey
The quest song- the rock anthem- the name of the group. All of these things combine to show us a picture of a future bearing down on us with alarming strength and ferocity. Where is America going? What will happen next? How will we cope?
10) 'Allentown/ Goodnight Saigon' - Billy Joel
I tag these two as one because it's the same continuing saga that Joel is relating. From the post-war hopes and dreams of baby-boomers spending 'their week-ends on the Jersey Shore' through to the nightmare of the Vietnam war and the loss of America's innocence in final irrevocable fashion, this is Billy Joel's America, modern America, rock 'n' roll America.
You couldn't just actually get on with things, could you? You couldn't be like your 'hero' John McCain and actually just accept Obama's win gracefully and set about facing the future more positively, could you?
No.
Instead you immediately set about indulging yourselves in this incredibly pathetic victim mentality.
Oh, poor us, ohh poor Christian White People.
I mean, even apart from the face that Obama's the same religion as a lot of you and just as American as any of you, you somehow see him with his dark skin, his crazy African name and his suspicious ties to Islam because he doesn't hate and despise ALL muslims like you do. Even apart from all this, you are not defeated like five minutes and you start in with the high-pitched whining noises like a woman in one of those dreadful made for tv movies that they show on the victim network ('BASED ON A TOTALLY REALLY HONESTLY TRUE STORY, NO REALLY!')
Well, this time it's just not going to work. It's the principle of diminishing returns. As more and more people evolve beyond the point of sitting in their own shit and whining about other races, religions and modernity 'ruining' America/their society/rock music, etc. we're left with an increasingly embarassing looking motley crew who come up with more and more outlandish theories, 'true' stories, crazy conspiracies and creepy paranoid fears. They're the new Amish, terrified of moving past 1964.
The great thing is that they're quickly disappearing. The sad thing is that they're not all gone yet.
I mean, I knew from the moment things started going Obama's way that the right-wing moron brigade would be in hog-heaven at a Democratic Party victory. They could put their 'Black Occupation' clocks on their websites, come up with new fears of crazy socialist liberalism and see themselves re-invented as noble underdog warriors fighting against the new 'man'.
Of course, anyone with half a brain can see that all their nonsense is just that, sheer nonsense. It's the bloated petulant squeak of a spoiled child who's finally been told that they'll have to share their toys after years of having it all their own way.
And they can't just see things as they are. They have to constantly project these ludicrous fears and extend nightmarish scenarios of them being ground under heel. The white man has never been ground under heel. He never was, isn't now and never will be. He's always the one who's done the grinding. So where's the problem? Where are all these fears coming from?
These silly bastards just don't play well with others. Especially dark-skinned others with funny names and strange foods! They don't act on rational fears because there aren't any.
I should know better by now, having lived in Texas since 1998, but it still disturbs and disappoints me when friends or associates of mine come up with ludicrous theories such as the one that black children are acting up in schools now because 'nobody can stop us now'.
I almost virtually slapped a friend of mine when she started on that one.
And another friend severely disappointed me when she said that her and her ludicrous room-mate were discussing that now that Obama had been voted in that they hoped 'people wouldn't think they could just sit around and wait for money from the government'
Like what? I mean, what. It doesn't even make sense.
I love her as a good friend and the two of us have been through a lot - but holy jeebus, to come out with that. I told her she should be ashamed of even thinking nonsense like that, as much as I hate telling anyone they should be ashamed of anything- cause it makes me look like a pompous jerk. But that, that was just nonsense.
It's like the insidious horrible chain emails that used to go around so much when the internet started.
They would usually start off with a shit sob story that portrayed the average decent 'honest' 'God-fearing' 'normal' American as being attacked by some crazy wacky fucked up liberal craziness! And then would encourage us all to send said lying piece of shit around to everyone BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!!!
1) ' story of how a class wasn't allowed say prayers for poor boy in a coma because prayers were banned from school'
2) 'story of a 82 yr old veteran of 19 wars who refused to take down the ten commandmants from the town hall'
3) 'story of 17yr old White girl who was the first in her family to make it into college but refused a grant because she was white!!!!'
STOP NOW BEFORE THOSE CRAZY LIBERALS RUIN IT ALL FOR US OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG
It's such an amazing victim mentality.
LIke a small child scolded or disagreed with so they throw a strop.
Damn Crackers.
Ok, rant over.
oh and send this to ten friends you know or an angel will get capped. And on that feast day in winter that we can no longer call BLANKmas because of all the evil evil evil evil LIBERAL MUSLIM HOMOSEXUALS
QUICK- Because you can't call it CHRIST-FUCKING-MAS ANYMORE BOO HOO WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP
And I'm not even talking about a black man being elected the next president but rather Americans managing to say in sufficient numbers, enough is enough, let's begin to heal the divide and to put the past behind us. Obviously, I'm happy at the results and delighted at Obama's first speech as an elected national leader but even more happy that I'm not alone in genuinely wanting all of us to move forward together. The future is here, it's five minutes later than you think and it's the right moment to leave all the baggage behind us and willingly embrace a more positive vision.
Needless to say, I've spent hours doing plots for the entire Shaman series and managed to get 57 'Episodes' done up and a lot of new and exciting plot elements and characters introduced.
Now, the only question is what format should they be in ?
Currently, I'm just about to watch the last episode of the second season and am truly sad to see Chris Bauer's magnificent Frank Sobotka go, whose performance has riveted my attention throughout the second season.
Here's one episode from the run into the series finale.
I'm trying to decide whether or not to put it into 'Romantic stories for vampires' in some kind of adapted form.
Episode twelve)
Prelude to a closure II : Two dice walked into a bar
Duration: 1hr long .
Guest-stars :
Summary : A history of all the games playing, games master, games pawn, games rule keepers groups- set at the dawn of time and following their influence all the way up to modern day. Yolanda is on the run from alternate universe versions of W& W in a blaxploitation reality, the UGGE are all burned and only the emergence from a trashy eyeliner street culture of the God of Mischief, Loki hotpants himself can save the reality as we know it. The two female wagg& wag’s are hot on the trail of Yolanda as well and it’s only when Loki delays them with a mass street rally of his gothic followers that Yolanda has a chance to escape into another tv set where she meets an alternate version of herself (very gay pretty girl) who escapes with her to the ‘unseen realms’ of television, where ditched pilots live and concepts for brave new shows never make it past basic scripting. It is there that the Eternity Bailiffs show up and take Yolanda and her alternate counterpart into custody as material witnesses to the trial of Waggoner & Wagner. They are taken to the central court and to the specific court-room where W& W are about to be tried for crimes against fiction.
It is there that they discover the real Waggoner & Wagner who are about to be put on trial for crimes against tv realities and the breaching of fourth wall laws of entertainment. This is a court of multiple realities with several different versions of the boys from diff realities: the girls, the gay detectives, the manga version, the 1940’s guys, the mime version, the musical version, the 19th century detectives, the Disney cartoon versions, the native American duo plus wolf version. All of the W& W’s from various realities have been cut off from other realities they might ‘infect’ and their respective universes put on PAUSE whilst the trial proceeds. The show ends with the Prosecution ( also played by RJ Wagner) attorney listing the charges and reminding the court of the gravity of the charges and that if found guilty, that the principals will be wiped out of existence forever.
The first of the Star Trek movies is a really interesting mixed bag. Coming off of the heels of an aborted new late 1970's tv series, a lot of the designs had been already run up and characters such as Decker and Ilyia put in place to bolster an obviously aging original cast. The heart was definitely in the right place with the basic story and the idea of the crew getting back together to face this ominous threat but the real problems arose in the execution of the idea and the sloppy writing and design work, including uniforms and mixed interior tones.
The movie should have been cut severely, especially the scenes in the second half with the crew finally reaching V'gr.
So here's a chance to redress that balance and give these types of films their due. We all need cheering up every so often. As per usual with these lists, this is a personal set of choices and not something that any of you will agree with 100 per cent but it's always interesting to see how and why we differ on particular choices.
1) 'Imagine me & you' - Hilarious, heart-warming and ultimately ott ending a la Richard Curtis & co. all add up to a thoroughly enjoyable movie that is packed full of wonderful characters and performances.
2) 'Fried Green Tomatoes at the whistle-stop cafe' - So difficult to sum up this amazing movie without waffling on too long. This is a powerful movie concerned principally with the lives of three women and events that unfold in the past and present. You will laugh, you will cry, you will have your faith in humanity restored.
3) ' Volver' - Nothing cheers one up like watching Penelope Cruz...do anything. The movie is a testament to Almodovor's understanding to humanity, principally the strength and warmth of the women in this movie.
4) 'A good year' - Yeah yeah yeah, it's corny, it's a rehash of script-writer Peter Mayle's 'A year in Provence' and it's very slow- but it's Ridley Scott and it's Russell Crowe and it's the gorgeous sun-drenched countryside of Southern France. Just sit back and let yourself enjoy the wonderful old-fashioned story and visuals. A rare treat.
5) 'Once' - Irish busker meets Czech girl who misses her piano. Glorious triumph that skates on the edge of cynicism and spirit-lifting music therapy. An incredible achievement.
6) 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' - a movie that reminds us what true love is and where to find it in today's post-sentimentality society.
7) 'Notting Hill' - It's hard not to just shove all of Curtis & Grant's ouevre in here but instead I'll let this one stand for their particular brand of encapsulated British charm and bitter-sweet romances. NH is notable for a fascinating look at pairings between famous and non-famous people, Rhys Ifan's triumphant break-through and the hauntingly beautiful Elvis Costello cover of Aznavour's 'She'
8) 'Monsters Inc.' - Ahh Pixar. Good Lord, has anything ever looked as good as the movies these CGI Jedi Masters come up with? With this movie they hit the exact blance needed to blend technical wizardry with charming story and wonderful voice talents of Billy Crystal and John Goodman topping off an almost perfect animated experience.
9) 'Crash'- An odd choice on this list, I know, but one of those movies that rewards one paying close attention and also a very nice holistical approach to society and as the end approaches, one's time is well rewarded by some incredible scenes of closure.
10) 'Big' - One of THE ultimate feel-good movies. The only problem including it on here is that pretty much everyone on the face of the planet has seen it already- well, go see it again.
Part of his power is to make his scripts, characters (obviously with the incredible talents of the actors to bring them to life) and settings so natural, real and emotive. The pure love that Pedro has for Penelope Cruz's character (and indeed, the woman herself as both of them discuss in a round-table chat with the cast and director) shines through all the drama and humour of the film itself. The ever wonderful Carmen Maura once again shows herself to be a world-class acting talent as indeed do all the women in the cast.
The amusing and interesting thing is that whilst Pedro has always focused on strong female characters in his films, this movie pretty much just puts men in there as incidental mostly non-speaking characters who propel events or are footnotes to the women's stories, and manages to make this seem natural, so compelling and organic are the female driven narratives.
It's something that I find interesting when writing as well, and whilst I wouldn't equate myself with Pedro Almodovor (give me a few years yet to achieve Spanish Genius level ), I definitely understand the way that he writes the female characters and the underlying impulse to follow stories through from a female perspective and learn a lot writing said characters IF you write them 'truthfully' and allow them to be themselves and be real.
When writing guys, it's much easier to forget about making them as real as possible, from a guy's perspective, but when trying to bring a female character to life, I find myself spending a lot more time on details, background, perspective, attitude and how she thinks, feels, acts, etc.
With every character I write, I'll try to always, like I mentioned, write from truth and not just try to make a point, polemicize or use a person in a story to just express one of my view-points.
Almodovor is fascinating to watch in the round-table chat with the principal cast members and watch his interactions with the others, espeically Penelope Cruz and Carmen Maura who both make some very interesting points and discuss their relationships with Pedro and how that relationship affects and informs the dynamic of the final works.
Go watch it.
Grant, as much as he is excellent at any length story-telling, always excels at the longer game and given the chance to unfold a map of story over a generous number of issues, will show his skills and command of the genre and the art-form as few can.
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