Journal 2003
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December 9, 2003
We have a new puppy. Grendel is seven weeks old, and his presence is causing less sleep around here than usual. He’s a brindle & white pit bull with the most adorable face in this dimension.
November 14, 2003
What is magical realism? I get this question often from people unfamiliar with the literary term. A debate on its definition seems to recur often in forum discussions and between some of us writers in the dark booths at the backs of pubs. I’ve been thinking about it again. Here are a few places that feature the topic: www.magicalrealism.com, Margin magazine, The Magical Realism Page, and a seminal anthology, one I’ve always felt is a comprehensive sampling from writers of varying style and culture, Magical Realist Fiction.
November 2, 2003
I couldn’t believe my eyes when reading an interview with the director of Underworld, and his remarked surprise at White Wolf’s lawsuit, saying that he’d never heard of a vampire-werewolf war storyline. He’d apparently written the movie story in a complete vacuum, without any research whatsoever. (Not to say that White Wolf’s universe was at all original, since it’s an amalgamation of Anne Rice, Charles de Lint, and other writers and folktales.) I simply chose not to give this director any money or time to see his derivative flick (in more ways than one as I can’t believe either that no one seems to have noticed the minimum of four over-used Matrix wanna-be action sequences in the movie trailer).
I was willing to let this go, I was gonna hold my tongue. But the epidemic is obviously spreading. When I saw last week’s trailer and featurette for the Aliens vs. Predator™ movie, I was livid. After years of tossing around various scripts; 20th Century Fox is finally capitalizing on an idea Dark Horse Comics had over 10 years ago. In the worst way possible. The premise for this movie script is insulting on far too many levels, even for a big budget studio production. Setting this story on Earth, with an Alien™ queen frozen in the Antarctic is one of the least original ideas ever conceived, one that manages to destroy consistency with the earlier films. Human deep space travel, hypersleep and planetary colonization are basic science fiction elements that the Alien™ movies have all assumed as basic story elements, creating a broader, deeper stage for the storyline. The Alien™s were found in deep space, why the hell would they ever be on our own planet?! (which, in the Alien™ future, is most likely uninhabitable, over-mined for resources, hence the reason for planetary expansion and fuel truckers in the first place). At this rate, we’d expect a character in the next film to simply hold their breath in space and come through unscathed, defying physics and biology. Or maybe the Alien™s will show up at Camp Crystal Lake (another “Vs” movie opportunity!)
The most insulting twist on this new script is the pop sci-fi committee board meeting brainstorm idea of claiming the Predator™ race built the Mayan pyramids and other ancient structures. Erich von Däniken is simply not good science. Don’t ask us to swallow that one, especially as a cheap device to set the stage on Earth.
It’s quite simple: do your homework. If you’re going to insult our education, can we at least have the benefit of the doubt about our cultural literacy? If you’re going to trash that, can’t you at least leave our pop culture trivia intact? Before you spend millions on another franchise movie, please study your own previous flicks. Besides, you’re going to ruin the potential for a sequel that’s always had great potential, The Thing. (you know, Antarctica?! c’mon)
November 1, 2003
We’re moved into the new house. Past two weeks have been an exhausting sequence of painting, unpacking and seemingly endless furnace inspections. Many weeks of packing before that. Was all worth the cram on Friday night when our friends all arrived in costume. Few things are worse than an October slipping away uncelebrated. The office is beginning to feel like it’s mine, and now to catch up on a few neglected stories…
watching: Castle in the Sky, Death Race 2000, Bowling for Columbine, Utu, Four Muskateers
reading: The Dark is Rising
September 23, 2003
Testing a new site design… it’s autumn in my mind. New structure too. I have never been interested in blogging about my life, nor necessarily about the writing process. One seems dull, the other technical. But then, I’ve pontificated through past versions of the web site. This is a writer’s journal, we’ll see what that means.
watching: Underground
reading: The Spirit (W. Eisner)
September 18, 2003
RIP Johnny Cash
September 13, 2003
Attended Charles de Lint’s reading at Powell’s on Friday evening. He read from his latest novel off of his PDA, and it struck me that’s the first “digital” reading I’ve heard.
watching: Freddy vs. Jason, Caddyshack
reading: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (H. Miyazaki)
August 18, 2003
To increase the ability to bring a pet into our lives, and decrease the ability of the federal government to abscond with our hard-earned monies, Aimee and I are house shopping.
watching: Peeping Tom
reading: The Name of the Game (W. Eisner)
June 12, 2003
RIP, Gregory Peck.
June 11, 2003
“Man Eaten By Pizza!” — this is my living tabloid for today. In a bout of hunger, I ordered three pieces of pizza for lunch, could not finish one, and made plans to carry it home for dinner. On the walk through a downtown park en route to the lightrail home, I passed a man sleeping on a bench, coat under his head, and decided to leave the slice of veggie sicilian wrapped in waxed paper and napkins. Less than an hour later, Aimee and I returned downtown to attend a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar — and, after parking the car nearby, ended up walking through the same park. The man was gone — but the pizza was alone on the bench, unwrapped. Dun dun dun DAAA!!
watching: The Red Violin
June 4, 2003
Busy times this spring. The family came to visit and we stayed at the coast. Aimee convinced me to rush headlong into the NW ocean… c o l d . Then off to a wedding in Alaska (where I did not sample the sea) but it was beautiful. The lodge was nothing short of Valhalla.
watching: X2, K-19, Matrix Reloaded, Italian Job (1969), Iron Monkey, Legend of Hell House, Pulp Fiction
reading: Over Sea, Under Stone (S. Cooper); Flannery O’Connor The Complete Stories; Lone Wolf and Cub 11-17; Book of Ambergris (J. VanderMeer); Springheeled Jack (P. Pullman); Major Arcana: The Magician (M. Harmon); The Day of the Triffids (J. Wyndham)
April 27, 2003
Attended a showing of Rob Zombie’s much-delayed House of 1000 Corpses this weekend, and found it genuinely horrific and stressful. As a fan of his music, marketing and influences, I was expecting a campy or silly movie. Found myself quite tense and horrified. Good job, Rob.
February 9, 2003
Heard William Gibson at Powell’s tonight. His reading from his new book Pattern Recognitions was fairly short, but he was quite patient with all the audience questions. It is always nice to hear someone of his caliber say things like “Well, I think books like The Stars, My Destination still just… rock.”
reading: House of Leaves (by Zampano)
February 8, 2003
The past month has seen the culmination of extended computer problems. After purchasing new RAM, a new internal hard drive, and three different diagnostic software utilities, I gave up wasting my time on the schizophrenic problems that were occuring and took the machine into the repair shop. The logic board and a few RAM chips were bad. I’ve been without a computer for two weeks, which has delayed 3LBE #12 again, amongst other projects. All goes swimmingly now.
consuming: York Peppermint Patties (thanx Gma!)
attending: Del the Funky Homosapien
reading: From Dust Returned (R. Bradbury)
watching: Lost Horizon, Casablanca, Spirited Away
January 5, 2003
Moved 3LBE #12 to Feb. 1. Have accepted two stories for this issue, with a few maybes that need further consideration. Rew X needs more time for cover art as well. Have also pushed back the v.II print annual to Q3.
watching: Bring It On, Drumline
January 1, 2003
Last night’s festivities were the perfect testing ground for my new flask (Xmas gift from Aimee), amply filled with Glenfiddich. That experience, plus a little peer pressure, put me on stage for some karaoke. We closed the evening with a bit of Lita Ford nostalgia.
watching: The Sopranos (season 2)
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