What I've done while not blogging...
I can't really think of anything to write about definitively tonight, so some randomness ensues...
- I haven't hit a theater all summer, though I did go and see THE MOVIE in May. Suffice it to say that I was both geeked-out-happy and disappointed at the same time. Maybe it's just 28 years of anticipation, but it was very hard not to be let down by Revenge Of The Sith. I mean, I realize that Eps 1 and 2 weren't the most spectacular things going, but come on, it's the origin of one of the most bad-assed villains in the history of film. It has to be something better then a whiny hissy fit by a tight-assed teenager who's been getting too much smoke blown up his ass by Joe Lieberman. (Okay, maybe not Lieberman. Maybe Trent Lott.) But the first 30 minutes and the final 30 are more than enough to make up for the hour plus inbetween that mostly sucks. (Though the implication that Anakin snuffs the younglings helps me enjoy it.)
- I've been doing a lot of reading, since I have a lot of time on my hands. My most recent reads are:
Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell - An entertaining if short read. Vowell's obsession with Presidential assassinations is amusing, and I did learn quite a bit of trivia that I never knew before. (It's more amusing a read to imagine Violet Parr actually reading it.)
A half dozen of Richard Stark's Parker novels - I was vaguely familiar with the Parker character from Point Blank and the underrated 80's Peter Coyote thriller Slayground, but I'd never actually read one until I found myself intrigued by the most recent one, Nobody Runs Forever. I'm the type of reader who will immediately turn around and go after every other thing I can find by the same author, so I've now read all the Parker books in the Hamden library. I like Stark because his books are a lot like Ed McBain's; right to the point with as little bullshit as possible. Parker gets a job, does the job, things go wrong, Parker cleans up. Of course, now I've got to go Stark hunting, and so far, Alibris has been less than accomodating, and Amazon's not much better at the moment. But hey, there's always used bookstores.
Despite The System: Orson Welles Vs. The Hollywood Studios, by Clinton Heylin - A fascinating read about the films of Orson Welles and the films that didn't quite make it. Very well researched, if the author does seem to have an ax to grind with previous Welles books, and it makes me sad for the films that we never got to see because Welles was too far ahead of his time.
- I'm starting to work on the story again, as November is approaching rapidly and I need to be close to done with the first part if I'm gonna crank out the second part(or at least 50,000 words of it) in 30 days.
- I've been spending too much time allowing the Yankees to make me miserable and not enough time watching all the other movies I've got. I was thinking things would be easier after the season, but now that the NHL's back, the movie backlog probably won't get any smaller.
- Someone hire me. Please. There must be someone out there who can use a moderately talented customer service or call center guy and would be willing to give me $30K a year and good health care benefits.
More later...
- I haven't hit a theater all summer, though I did go and see THE MOVIE in May. Suffice it to say that I was both geeked-out-happy and disappointed at the same time. Maybe it's just 28 years of anticipation, but it was very hard not to be let down by Revenge Of The Sith. I mean, I realize that Eps 1 and 2 weren't the most spectacular things going, but come on, it's the origin of one of the most bad-assed villains in the history of film. It has to be something better then a whiny hissy fit by a tight-assed teenager who's been getting too much smoke blown up his ass by Joe Lieberman. (Okay, maybe not Lieberman. Maybe Trent Lott.) But the first 30 minutes and the final 30 are more than enough to make up for the hour plus inbetween that mostly sucks. (Though the implication that Anakin snuffs the younglings helps me enjoy it.)
- I've been doing a lot of reading, since I have a lot of time on my hands. My most recent reads are:
Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell - An entertaining if short read. Vowell's obsession with Presidential assassinations is amusing, and I did learn quite a bit of trivia that I never knew before. (It's more amusing a read to imagine Violet Parr actually reading it.)
A half dozen of Richard Stark's Parker novels - I was vaguely familiar with the Parker character from Point Blank and the underrated 80's Peter Coyote thriller Slayground, but I'd never actually read one until I found myself intrigued by the most recent one, Nobody Runs Forever. I'm the type of reader who will immediately turn around and go after every other thing I can find by the same author, so I've now read all the Parker books in the Hamden library. I like Stark because his books are a lot like Ed McBain's; right to the point with as little bullshit as possible. Parker gets a job, does the job, things go wrong, Parker cleans up. Of course, now I've got to go Stark hunting, and so far, Alibris has been less than accomodating, and Amazon's not much better at the moment. But hey, there's always used bookstores.
Despite The System: Orson Welles Vs. The Hollywood Studios, by Clinton Heylin - A fascinating read about the films of Orson Welles and the films that didn't quite make it. Very well researched, if the author does seem to have an ax to grind with previous Welles books, and it makes me sad for the films that we never got to see because Welles was too far ahead of his time.
- I'm starting to work on the story again, as November is approaching rapidly and I need to be close to done with the first part if I'm gonna crank out the second part(or at least 50,000 words of it) in 30 days.
- I've been spending too much time allowing the Yankees to make me miserable and not enough time watching all the other movies I've got. I was thinking things would be easier after the season, but now that the NHL's back, the movie backlog probably won't get any smaller.
- Someone hire me. Please. There must be someone out there who can use a moderately talented customer service or call center guy and would be willing to give me $30K a year and good health care benefits.
More later...
posted by Jon M. at
11:48 PM
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