Day 9

I woke up and critted 3 stories and squeezed in breakfast before today's lecture/critique session.

Walter kicked things off with a concise lecture and character. And he also gave us a great 4 page hand out on generating backstories for both minor and major characters.

We then had 4 stories critted. Mine was first: a teen fantasy about an ugly duckling girl who competes with a high school beauty queen for a Spanish exchange student with a love potion that's not a love potion.

Considering that I don't normally write YA fantasy or a lot of girl characters, the story went over well with a lot of people in the group. I got a lot of great suggestions on taking it up another notch.

The other 3 stories were also critted with five minute breaks and one 20 minute lunch. I'd say that today was the best session so far (probably thanks to the weekend break).

Hopefully people won't get too ground down as this final week goes by.

Connie capped things with a lecture on different character POV, like: 3rd person omniscient, authorial, stream of consciousness, etc.

Very interesting.

I did my fitness thing, but was a bit worn out when I did. Maybe the altitude's affecting me more than I realize. Being active for 7 of the last 9 days must also be taking a lil' toll, too. But one has to stay energized.

I've got 3 stories to read for tomorrow and another assignment: write a 100 word scene 3 times with the same character, but using a different POV.

I'll be curious to see what I come up with.

That's all fer now.

2007 PAGE Screenwriting Contest Quarterfinalist

I just got the news that my "Stars and Stripes Forever," made it into the quarterfinals of this year's PAGE contest.

I was told that 3,411 entries were received. My script made it into the top 25% (a total of 872 scripts). Because so many excellent historical epics and biopics were entered, the contest created a new Historical category; so my story is entered as both a Drama and Historical script.

It's an American "Master & Commander" tale about a real-life navy lieutenant who struggles to destroy an American frigate captured by pirates before it's used against the United States.

Incidentally, I wrote the first draft of this script in a Winter 2005 UCLA screenwriting class under Jack Sowards.

Thanks Jack.

Semifinalists will be announced on July 30.

I've also entered a bunch of other contests. I'll look forward to the reports. :-)

Boris

Day 8

Got up today.

Exercised, got some pancakes from Oz, Traci, & Kim, and did laundry.

We had a temporary electric shortage for 40 minutes. No biggie. Happens from time to time on the mountain, mostly during rain, snow, etc. It's been clear all day, though.

I went to Taos to with Walter, his wife, Connie, and just two other workshop people to catch a 12:30 P showing of the latest Harry Potter.

Can't go into detail for a review. It was OK. Pretty dark. But Ron & Hermione didn't have a lot to do in this film. I also had the feeling this was just a transitional film. Nothing much going on to forward the main storyline of the impending confrontation between Harry and Voldemort.

The book was compressed well enough into a 2.5 hour film, but some important stuff was cut, which would've explained why certain characters did this or that and what a portal or other object was. This was a bit more dependent than the other films on people having read the book beforehand.

It was still worth seeing once. I'll be curious to catch the next installment.

Afterwards, we went to a local pizza joint. Most of the rest got a huge pizza slice. I tried a calzone. It was OK, but had too much ricotta cheese for my liking.

I've been back at the Snow Bear Inn, taking care of chores, like a synopsis for an existing novel, which would be used to sell it. Then a case of fatigue hit. Guess I'll read the 3 stories Monday morning.

Later.

Day 7

Full day today.

Got up early and exercised, then had a surprise treat of pancakes with blueberries cooked by some workshop classmates--Oz, Traci, and Kim (3 cool ladies) in the ski lodge unit next to mine.

Afterwards, Oz snapped a picture of me. I don't usually pose for pictures, so this is a rarity, and here it is, courtesy of Oz. Thanks a million!

Once I got my mug snapped, I went into Taos with Connie and some others to sight see, eat lunch, and buy groceries. I stocked up on breakfast and lunch for my last week here. I also found two books in a bookstore for two film scripts I have in mind. And on the same shelf no less. I wonder what the odds are?

We got back to the ski lodge in time to wait for George R.R. Martin to arrive. He got delayed by traffic piling into the "Pow Wow," a local Indian festival.

When he finally made his way up the mountain, he gave a talk that covered the reasons why people read fiction (to learn about different subjects, escapism, etc.), about how there's fewer readers and publishers, and how authors who aren't New York Times Best selling writers are becoming an endangered species.

The fiction field seems to be entering rocky waters.

I then rode with Connie, George, and some other people in her car as the whole group went to Taos to eat at a New Mexican restaurant. Two good meals in Taos today--for a price. Good thing we won't be eating in restaurants for the rest of the week.

Small note: Before I rode back with Connie and George, George mentioned that HBO was developing his fantasy book series "A Song of Fire & Ice" into a long running TV series. I don't have HBO, and don't plan on getting it. I'll have to wait for the DVDs to come out then. George said he told his agent that if anyone would produce his books, it should be HBO since a TV series would do a better job than a trilogy of feature films and HBO has produced some good projects. "Band of Brothers" (based on Stephen Ambrose's book) is one case in point. I love it myself.

Several (me included) are planning to go into Taos tomorrow on Sunday to catch a noontime showing of the latest Harry Potter. Looking forward to that.

I just have to find the time to write up a 2-3 page synopsis of a published novel and critique 3 of 4 stories for Monday. One of the four is mine. I'm planning on doing my synopsis on the alternate history novel "Gettysburg" by William R. Forstchen. Newt Gingrich's name is on the cover also, but I feel it's Forstchen's story.

Hailing frequencies closed.

Day 6

Light day. No coyotes were scavenging through garbage and howling in the morning like yesterday (though I slept through it).

We had only 3 stories to crit, and I turned in a 4500 word teen fantasy story. It's about an ugly duckling teen girl who competes with a beauty queen for a Spanish exchange student with a love potion that's not a love potion. It's the third female protagonist story I've written, my third fantasy, and my first young adult story. Different from my usual work. I'll be curious to hear what the ladies in the group think.

Connie gave another talk on dramatic irony. Walter talked about literary contracts and outlines/synopses. All good stuff. Ironically, the dramatic irony wasn't something I'd had covered in my other workshops/classes. :-)

I exercised a bit, but cut it short to have a personal conference with Walter about my fiction plans. I was glad to hear I'd mapped out a good strategy for myself: get 3-5 pro short fiction sales, then go ahead with novels.

I've got an outline to do over the weekend, prepare to read some stuff for Monday, a George Martin talk to look forward to, and outings in Taos.

We had a grill cook out with hamburgers and hot dogs (along with brownies, potatoe chips/doritos, peanuts, and potato salad). I need to get more vegetables and fiber.

And we topped the evening with another movie night, watching a Carey Grant flick (forgot name) where we had things like clumsy exposition, raising the stakes, reversals, etc. pointed out to us.

Good times.

Jack B. Sowards Tribute

I just learned that Jack Sowards, my main UCLA screenwriting teacher, passed away a few days ago on July 8, 2007.

Jack was 78 and had Lou Gehrig's disease. He wasn't feeling well during my final quarter, and I was concerned for him. Looking back, his passing was foreshadowed.

He was an actor and a writer from the 1950s to 1990. His credits include episodes for Bonanza, Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, and Star Trek TNG episode "Where Silence Has Lease."

He'd also served in the military during the Berlin Airlift crisis of 1947 and the Korean War. He's survived by his several children and grandchildren. He had a full life to put it mildly.

Jack was the most memorable screenwriting teacher I've ever had. I was lucky to have him for 4 of my 6 quarters in the UCLA Professional and Advanced programs. He taught both my first class in 2002 and my last class in 2006.

Not only did he give great feedback on people's stories, he was also a fount of wisdom, experience, and anecdotes about life and his time in Hollywood.

I'll miss you, Jack.

Thanks for everything you've given me.

The following quote from today's CS Weekly newsletter was something he'd said in class one day. I'll keep it in mind always.

"In Hollywood people don't fail, they quit."
– Jack Sowards (1929 - 2007)

Day 5

Critted 4 stories today.

There was no lecture, but Walter had us help plot out a partially done novel outline written by a person in the group. It took almost two hours.

The exercise was interesting, but the story idea didn't hook me, and I thought we could've completed it sooner.

I had to skip my fitness break today. C'est le vie.

I'm writing out my second week story right now. I think it'll be OK, but I'm a bit blocked now.

Oh, we're expecting George R.R. Martin this weekend. There was a little trouble finding him a room in the area since Bastille Day is coming up, and a lot of the local inns seem to be owned by Frenchmen.

Très curieux.

Later--

Oh!

I also turned in a summary of a restructured story. Walter bade us to do an exercise in which we identify a turning point in an existing novel/film, reverse it, and write what happened from there.

I chose Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith.

Here's my reworked version:
-----------------------------------------------------------

Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith (Revised)

At the beginning of the film, Anakin and Obi Wan board General Grievous’ ship to save Chancellor Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious). Count Dooku confronts them. Dooku knocks out Obi Wan, but Anakin cuts off both Dooku’s hands, takes Dooku’s light saber, and angles both their light sabers at Dooku’s throat. Palpatine urges Anakin to kill him.

Divergence: Rather than kill Dooku, Anakin spares him and lets him flee. Anakin goes on to save Palpatine and Obi Wan and land Grievous’ ship when it crash lands on Coruscant.

Dooku escapes with General Grievous to a Trade Federation battleship. As they clear the Coruscant system, Dooku tells Grievous of Palpatine’s treachery and Darth Sidious’ original plan to lure Anakin to the Dark Side and let Grievous be destroyed along with the rest of the Separatist leadership.

When Sidious contacts Grievous, the biodroid general pretends that Dooku isn’t with him and the Separatist leadership. Sidious says that Dooku betrayed him on the ship over Coruscant, so Grievous must kill Dooku on sight. He also orders Grievous to lay a trap on the planet Utapu for any Republic forces chasing him and relocate the Separatist leadership on the planet Mustafar.

Dooku has droid prostheses attached to his wrist stubs and contacts Master Yoda. Dooku tells Yoda that Palpatine is also Sidious and that he wishes to renounce the Dark Side. He also warns Yoda that Sidious seeks to lure Anakin into the camp of the Sith.

Yoda tells Dooku to dangle Grievous as bait. He assigns Obi Wan and Anakin to go after Grievous to keep Anakin away from Sidious. Yoda bids Dooku to give himself up at the Jedi Temple, but Dooku says he must attend to other matters first. Yoda worries, but orders Mace Windu to arrest Palpatine after Anakin leaves Coruscant.

Before Anakin leaves to pursue Grievous, though, Palpatine has Anakin come to his office. There he tells Anakin that he’s afraid of Dooku and treachery from the Jedi. When Anakin disbelieves him, Palpatine says only the Sith have the power to raise people from the dead, playing on Anakin’s forebodings of Padme’s death, then reveals that he is Sidious.

Anakin is torn. Dooku then appears to claim his revenge on Sidious. Anakin watches as Sidious and Dooku battle ferociously. Finally, Dooku has Sidious at his mercy. But before Dooku can strike the final blow, Anakin cuts him down. Anakin then pledges his allegiance to Sidious in exchange for his help in saving Padme’s life.

At Sidious’ order, Anakin attacks the Temple with clone troops. Sidious also issues Order 66 to all Republic clone forces to kill the Jedi across the galaxy. Mace Windu sacrifices himself to let Yoda and Obi Wan escape with their lives. They make contact with Senator Organa, who takes them to Utapu. There Grievous shelters them.

Sidious orders Grievous to abandon Utapu and await further orders on Mustafar. Unaware of Yoda’s and Obi Wan’s location, Anakin goes to Mustafar to destroy the Separatist leadership. But before he goes, he assures Padme that he is all right and that he will end the war once and for all.

After Anakin leaves, Obi Wan contacts Padme via Holonet transmission and tells her that Anakin has attacked to the Temple and killed many Jedi there. Padme disbelieves him, but flies after Anakin to confront him herself.

Anakin arrives at Mustafar and goes to the bunker, where the Separatist Council hides. Instead he finds Obi Wan, and the two men fight.

Grievous and the Separatist Council meantime attack Coruscant with all their remaining ships. Under cover of the assault, Yoda confronts Sidious in his chambers and battles him.

Obi Wan eventually gets the better of Anakin and leaves him with his limbs amputated and set afire by a lava river. Padme arrives then. When she learns of Anakin’s injuries, she goes into shock and collapses. Obi Wan takes her with him.

Back at Coruscant, the clone forces destroy Grievous, the Separatist Council, and their armada. Yoda also fails to kill Sidious, and steals away from Coruscant on Senator Organa’s ship.

Sensing a threat to Anakin, Sidious hurries to Mustafar. There Sidious finds Anakin and takes him back to Coruscant, where he is transformed into Darth Vader. Sidious founds the Empire and begins construction on the Death Star.

Meantime, in a remote medical facility, Padme gives birth to Luke and Leia before dying of a broken heart. Yoda, Obi Wan, and Organa split the twins to wait for them to grow up in safety.

The stage is set for Luke, Leia, and Han to lead the Rebellion against the Empire.

DAY 4

Got up again and did my 3 crits. I was told that there was some rock blasting by a construction crew that happened to pick this week to come. I slept through it. Word is, the Snow Bear Inn proprietors told 'em to come back another week. We'll see.

Today's talk was about "irony" and how it's present in the best stories, whether fiction or film. Interesting.

After the crits, we had a breakdown of Samuel Delaney's "Nova" novella. Technically, it was written well and economically, though it wasn't in my taste. Generation thing, I suppose.

I've got 4 stories to crit for tomorrow. I hope to do at least one tonight and I have to start brainstorming on my 2nd week story. No movie night tonight. :-)

I suggested, and Walter seconded that the group go see the new Harry Potter movie. We set Sunday afternoon as the prospective day. I can hardly wait.

It was sunny earliery today, but we got a few scattered rain storms, so it's cloudy. That's not necessarily too bad since we have to watch out for UV rays in the mountains. The Snow Bear Inn is almost at 10,000 feet. I forgot to say that it hailed yesterday. All the snow is gone today.

Oh, this is also the final week for my film production class. I got the final lecture and articles. No assignments. Woohoo! Just final questions for the teachers on anything about the film biz. Now if I could only find time to read the material...

Later.

Day 3

Got up early, read 3 stories, and got some breakfast. Before the crits, we got a lecture on information flow in a story and plot devices. All useful information, even if I heard most of it before.

We critiqued 4 stories today, one of which was my Peacemaker tale, which I'm prepping for WOTF. I'd say I got a mixture of fair, useful, and unperceptive comments. On the whole, I got an idea of what to do with the next draft. It's true when they say writing is rewriting. But I'm on the right track with this story.

I've begun thinking about the second story I'll turn in for next week. I would've done more if I hadn't succumbed to a temptation to watch Casablanca with most of the others.

I knew how it ended, but I've never seen the whole thing till now. A lot of today's Hollywood execs, directors, producers, writers, etc. would learn a thing or two if they watched this film. I'd say Connie picked it to reinforce some points in the lecture, like "reversals," "character convergence" (when characters that mix like fire and oil come together, that is), "plot twists," and sundry other good storytelling things.

Great film.

But I still have to do some background work on my next story.

And critique 3 stories when I wake up tomorrow...

Later.

Day 2


Got up early, critted 3 stories, got some toast with jam, and showed up for an 11 A lecture on plot.

Connie and Walter brought up some good plot structures, many of which I'd heard elsewhere. The talk lasted for maybe 40-50 minutes. We then critted the 3 stories, with 5 minute breaks in between and a 15 minute lunch.

We wrapped up around 4 P. The people in the group offered the best comments they could, pointing out bugs and offering suggestions. Walter & Connie capped each round, each talking at length. The three writers seemed to come away satisfied. No one left crying.

I'm coming up tomorrow. I'll be curious to see how the session goes.

I'm getting used to the...unique layout of my half of the room I'm staying in: a bathroom light that has to be flipped down to turn on, a light switch by my faucet that turns on nothing I can see, a light down the hallway that turns on the faucet light, etc.

I just got a key for my room, but the TV in my half has no antenna or satellite box--not that I have time for it any way.

I did some active stuff to get my endorphins going, then chowed down on burned lasagna, rock hard garlic bread, and salad. I indulged in a little ice cream and soft drink, but I'll cut it out now.

Connie showed us excerpts of "Throw Momma From The Train," pointing out all the (slightly) exaggerated writer bits.

Now I have to crit 3 of 4 stories. The fourth's mine, so I'm off the hook there.

Later.

Day 1

Thanks to procrastinating till the last minute on my packing, I got a whole 4 hours of sleep before going to the airport and getting on my flight to Albuquerque.

I dozed a bit here and there, read a novel, and ate a sandwich every four hours though I didn't want to.

Pretty warm when I got into Albuquerque, but it's a dry heat. My bag turned up at the airport ahead of me. That's a first for me. I noticed when I saw it by a baggage office rather than at the baggage claim terminal, where I waited for ten minutes and saw other people from my flight collect their stuff and leave.

I then boarded a shuttle van to Taos, New Mexico, and ended up being the last of 7 people dropped off because the Snow Bear Inn was the furthest drop off point. :-/

I did get to talking with the other passengers, one of whom was attending a mainstream fiction workshop in a motel in town. Caroline Chung-Wipff. We exchanged e-mails and promised to exchange short stories. I'm looking forward to reading her tale about... two Korean orphans caught up in the Korean War, if I recall correctly. I'll send her my Richard Takashima tale I'm prepping for WOTF after getting comments from Critters and Taos.

Anyhoo, after about 3 hours, I finally got to the Snow Bear Inn. The temperature fell something like 20 degrees fahrenheit. Bracing, a bit like the Rockies in Colorado. I can imagine what this place would be like with snow...

I found my room, chatted with Walter, Connie Willis, and some other people, and ate more food.

We have three presubmitted to stories to critique for tomorrow. I'm going to crash, then write up my thoughts in the morning. Fotunately, I'd already read all the manuscripts before coming. I just have to refresh myself on each one as I get to it.

I'm curious to see what Walter and Connie have to share with us.

Hailing frequencies closed.

Sit Rep

Busy, busy, busy...

On the 4th of July, I managed to see: "Ratatouille," "Live Free or Die Hard," and "Transformers." Quickly, I'd say for each in order: "another cartoon classic," "better than I expected," and "glitzy pop corn fare." I don't know if or when I'll get a chance to write something more extensive about any of these, though.

I've completed the 5th week of a six week film production course. Big expense considering I was already going to Taos. I'm not complaining too much, though, since learning how to create one's own production company is handy. :-)

The class is offered by the ESE Workshops program. Two very knowledgeable producers/instructors are teaching it, Rona Edwards and Monika Skerbelis. I'd met Rona at an industry panel in LA last August, which helped prompt me to try her online course after she started it up.

I was able to get the Week 5 work done on Thursday after getting the assignments this Wednesday. Big contrast after spending something like 96 hours over the last week on my Week 4 assignments when I wasn't working and reading stories for my upcoming Taos workshop.

I wrote phone pitches for 5 scripts (though I needed to do only two).

Then for the two required scripts, I had to research for each 6 candidates for writers, directors, actors for two roles, all their reps, and prospective production companies/studios to submit to, their contact info, the list it all out.

Gods...

But I persevered and turned in my lists on Wednesday. And now I have a game plan for when I start marketing these scripts. :-)

This Saturday, I have to help out a bit at work, do some final chores, and pack.

I can hardly wait to go to Taos this Sunday. Assuming the wi-fi holds up, I expect to keep a daily blog of my Taos adventures from 7/8 to 7/21. So stay tuned.

Though I hope things don't fall apart on the homestead when I take my leave...

Trek XI Script Is Done

Sy Fy Portal has recently reported that the writing duo of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orchi have finished the Trek XI script. This film will dramatize Kirk's earliest missions.

Those who've read my other posts on this subject are aware that I feel it's a mistake to reinvent Kirk and the rest of the original series gang rather than to press ahead with new characters in a new century.

Also, I'm skeptical of director JJ Abrams. When I review his work to date, he starts out with some interesting premises, then jumps to another project rather than stays to develop what he started and take it to another level.

Alias fizzled after the first two seasons and I feel that Lost is losing it. Six Degrees and What About Brian both got cancelled.

And if this one Trek film turns out to be half-way decent, what will Paramount do with the franchise? Rehash Kirk's adventures?

IMHO, Star Trek, unlike Batman, James Bond and other franchises is about the future, which offers a wider tapestry for stories than franchises, which are set in the present.

I'll be curious to see how the films turns out when it's released in Christmas 2008.

Battlestar Galactica Tidbits

Sy Fy Portal recently reported on how actor Michael Hogan is unhappy with the decision of the Galactica producers to turn him and other characters in the Final Five. The Cylon gods.

I share Hogan's view of the direction his character was taken.

I feel that the device of revealing people to be cylons on the show has been over and misused.

That stemmed in part from the writing staff's inability to generate enough dramatic episodes in Season 3 because they had only the humans of the Colonial fleet and the cylons to work with. The ratings in the second half of the third season dropped with the filler episodes.

If aliens were introduced, actor James Olmos (Admiral Adama) would leave.

To work around this, I feel that the Colonial fleet could run into other humans over the course of their quest for Earth. That's a device the original series used with great success in its second season--before it got axed for being too expensive to produce.

I'd love to see what happen if the democratic Colonials, who were searching for another clue to Earth's location, were to wander into a sector of space controlled by an advanced human totalitarian empire that wanted to enslave them.

We'll never know since the fourth season will be the last, and I don't believe that the show's producers will go that route.

Nichevo.

Larry Hodges Critique

This past weekend, I got a critique on my "The Way of the Peacemaker" opus from an emerging fantasy writer, Larry Hodges. Someone whom I met by chance on Critters in 2005 and have had the fortune of dealing with. He's had several short stories published and is working on his first novel. I'm looking forward to seeing what he turns out down the road.

Anywho, Larry pointed out some strengths and bugs that helped me fine tune the story for Critters and Taos before I shoot it off to WOTF. A few small changes, and it's so much better. I feel really good about this draft.

Thanks Larry!

Sit Rep

Let's see...

I've recently finished writing the latest draft of my "The Way of the Peacemaker" short SF story for WOTF.

Woohoo!

It's 7900 words. I feel pretty good about this draft. I've sent it to Critters for critiquing and to Walter Jon Williams as the first story of mine to be read at my upcoming Taos workshop.

I'd also received a summons to report for jury selection on 7-13-07 for possible jury duty during the week of 7-16-07. Thing is the Taos workshop runs from 7-8-07 to 7-21-07.

So I faxed a letter explaining my situation and got in touch with the judge's clerk this morning. I've been rescheduled for either September or October.

Huzzah!

And I'm also coming up on the 3rd week of a 6 week course on how to create my own film production company. Very illuminating.

It's fun to see how one can begin to assemble the pieces of one's own fiction/film corporate entity devoted to one's own material.

Time to go back to the grind now.

Not Seeing "Pirates of the Caribbean 3"

Coming into the Memorial Day weekend, I was planning on seeing "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End."

But I'd been hearing some bad buzz about the latest Cap'n Jack Sparrow adventure. And a nonwriter friend of a nonwriter acquaintance who stayed up late to see the film on Thursday night said it was "stupid."

IMHO, Hollywood has entered a phase where story quality is even less imortant than in the past, while squeezing as much money as possible out of a film franchise has become an even higher priority. I believe that when a story is well done, other things, like box office success will come as a consequence.

Disney and the other studios seem to believe that all they need to do nowadays is slap together some special effects, a fast-paced music score, action set pieces galore, offer it to the masses who're starving for entertainment, then sit back and rake in the dough.

I for one want to save my $$$ and time. I've got DVDs of "Heroes," some other good TV shows, and any number of good films I can watch over the weekend--when I'm not working, writing, doing chores, etc.

I know millions of people in the US and around the world will flock to theatres and set new box office records (till the next big blockbuster gets released).

It'd be interesting to see what'd happen if the masses didn't see POTC 3 and other blockbuster flops. I'd imagine that the studios would start caring more about the quality of the films they're greenlighting then.

Sit Rep

I've been busy...

I'm working on the latest draft of my space opera SF short story for WOTF. I spent about two weeks writing out the first draft of the current version by hand, now I'm typing it out (and making changes).

I'm up to page 15 and 2575 words. Feeling very hopeful.

I've also gotten my reading orders from Walter Jon Williams and Connie Willis to read the Turkey City lexicon for workshops and a bunch of short stories and 1 novella.

Here's the list:

"Nova," by Samuel R. Delany.

"Flowers for Algernon" (the original novelet, not the novel) in:
THE HUGO WINNERS, ed. Isaac Asimov
BEST SF 4, ed. Edmund Crispin
BEST FROM F AND SF 9, ed. Robert P. Mills
5TH ANNUAL OF THE YEAR'S BEST SF, ed. Judith Merril
THE MAGAZINE OF F AND SF: A THIRTY-YEAR PERSPECTIVE, ed.Ed Ferman
TEN TOP STORIES, ed. D.A. Sohn
SF HALL OF FAME, ed. Robert Silverberg (got this one)

"The Light of Other Days," by Bob Shaw.

"Lot," by Ward Moore in MY FAVORITE SCIENCE FICTION STORY,
edited by Martin H. Greenberg

BEST FROM F AND SF 3, ed. Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas
LOT AND LOT'S DAUGHTER with a new intro by Michael Swanwick

"Light of Days" was available free online. I bought the rest off of Amazon when a search of my local library coop turned up nada.

I paid $1.48 for 4 books with $3.99 postage for each. Bloody postal increases.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to reading. On top of my other stuff, my story, work...

Ugh...

Looking forward to "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" this weekend.

I guess.

I expect to review that.

Hailing frequencies closed.

Laurie Hutzler Script Consultation

I just came off a consult with Laurie Hutzler on my Stars and Stripes script.

It was already good, but with the changes (so small yet so poignant) I have in mind, it'll be much, much better. There was an issue of making the protagonist more layered, which she helped me work out as we talked. Awesome process.

I'll look forward to sharpening the script, probably next winter since I have some fiction and film stories in the hopper to work on first.

The burdens a writer bears... :-)

I hope this script and my Chinese Joan of Arc tale will still do well in this year's contests, though. I'll see.

Review: Spiderman 3

More is less.

Speaking for myself, I thought the first Spiderman was OK. The second installment hit it out of the park. No question.

I feel that Spiderman 2 raised the bar so high that director Sam Raimi overreached himself and tried to tell a grand story by mixing in too many subplots and characters competing with each other for screen time. He substituted scope and scale for the warmth and wit that made those two previous pictures so memorable. This lumbering third installment finds a trio of villains jockeying for screen time amid several half-developed storylines and a darker, self-serious tone that veers into the overwrought.

The opening credit sequence does a beautiful job of showing highlights from the previous two movies and gets you ready for this one, which is set an indeterminate amount of time after the 2nd one. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is living his dream life - he and Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) are going strong, he's at the top of his college classes, and much to the consternation of the Daily Bugle’s J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons), Spidey’s become New York’s favorite celebrity. What could go wrong?

For starters all of this success starts to go to our favorite webslinger’s head. He becomes self-involved and doesn’t notice MJ's problems whose life is starting to go downhill after she gets fired from her Broadway show. To be fair, she doesn’t tell Peter anything. (One must ask why the critics hate her in the third film when she was loved in the second and was good enough to get hired in the first place?) Anywho, MJ gets jealous of Peter's platonic relationship with his colorless lab partner Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) when she gives Spidey the key to the city and gives him "their" kiss while he’s hanging upside down.

It’s a bad time to grow an ego, as there’s trouble brewing on several fronts. First, Peter’s former best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) has discovered his late father’s stash of Green Goblin super-soldier serum, and he’s suiting up for second-generation supervillian-hood with a personal vendetta against Spider-Man.

And speaking of personal vendettas, it turns out the man who murdered Peter’s beloved Uncle Ben wasn’t actually the guy we saw Spidey take out in the first film. In a strange little chunk of revisionist history, we see a bunch of reshot scenes illustrating that Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) was the trigger man. As if all this weren’t awkward enough, James Cromwell’s police captain calls Parker and Aunt May down to the station and explains it to them for no obvious reason.

The punchline isn’t only that Church just escaped from prison, but he also accidentally tripped and fell into a top secret science experiment out of Star Trek that, for some reason, was being carried out in the middle of the night—so suddenly he’s the Sandman.

Still not enough story points for you? Well there’s also the matter of this strange alien goo coming from a meteorite that lands conveniently close to the spot where Peter and MJ are stargazing in New York’s Central Park. The goo then attaches itself to Peter’s moped and hangs around inertly in his room for the first 2/3 of the film before attaching itself to Peter and spontaneously transforming into a shiny black costume. It’s a parasitic organism that makes Spidey a lot more aggressive, and causes Pete to grow his bangs out like he’s in an ’80s New Wave band and sway like he’s on Saturday Night Fever.

Then there’s Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), a competitive freelance photographer, who’s trying to muscle his way into Parker’s gig at the Daily Bugle by Photoshopping forgeries of Spider-Man committing robberies so the people of New York will turn on their hero. And that’s before Brock gets up close and personal with the alien goo.

Whew! Raimi—who co-wrote the script with his brother Ivan as well as two-time Oscar winner Alvin Sargent ("Julia," "Ordinary People")-figures out a way to line up these events (sort of). For example, during the early fight between Spidey and Harry (the best action set piece of the film), Harry hits his head and comes down with short-term amnesia, so that he spends most of the movie being an amnesiac pussycat who’s nothing but sunshine and light. MJ hangs out with him for a bit to find some comfort from all her problems. Then Spidey figures out a way to stop the Sandman, but only for a little while. During these rest periods, Peter/Spidey can then deal with other problems.

On the bad side, the problems seem more artificial in Spider-Man 3 than they did in Spiderman 2. Each problem has less breathing room, less time to become organic with gray areas in the middle. The film eventually gets so tangled and top-heavy with its 20 million different plot threads, Raimi has to resort to Peter Parker watching television so news crews can helpfully recap at least an hour’s worth of off-screen events that set the final battle in motion. (Note to aspiring screenwriters: If your superhero needs to watch CNN in order to figure out what’s going on in his own movie, take it as a sign you’ve written yourself into a corner.)

There's the Raimi touch of having (Bruce Campbell) make another appearance, this time as a pseudo French Maître d' and the expected Stan Lee cameo (I'm not against him getting his due, but his cameos don’t seem to be adding anything). Then there's the typical moment where Spiderman does something in front of the cheering NYC crowd. Rather than get out of the way, the New Yorkers stand there and watch the battles when buildings and debris are falling around them. What would it be like to have Spidey fight ONE villain WITHOUT removing his mask in the middle of the brawl? It's amazing everyone in NYC doesn't know who he is by now.

McGuire seems to be a bit bored this go around. There's no spark or excitement in his performance except when he gets taken over by the alien goo and goes dark side—for Peter. He struts down the street dressed in black, accompanied by cheesy music, and women either give him the eye or look at him like he's a creep, goes to jazz clubs, and says "babe" a lot. Hilarious sequence.

Then there's the idea of bringing in the iconic Gwen Stacy, who many fans of the Spiderman comic book knows has a major impact on our hero's life. The problem is, Stacy's impact is felt early on in his career and introducing her into the film world this way and at this time makes absolutely no sense. If they wanted to introduce a woman to make MJ jealous then this character would have been fine, as long as she was called something other than Gwen Stacy.

I liked the Sandman character and the resolution at the end better than I thought I would, but I also hated the revisionist way they turned Sandman into the killer of Uncle Ben. The storyline was handled well, but it felt too much like the Batman origin story where they had to make the hero invested by saying "Hey, I killed your Uncle."

The stuff with Harry was actually very good. Here James Franco really gets to display a real emotional range. The new Goblin designs were real cool (in an edgy bad guy sort of way), everything from the black leather suit, to the mask, to the redesigned Goblin glider were fantastic. I had the feeling this was a guy who could kick Spidey's butt (and should have been the main baddie for the film). The main reason the 3rd film works is because of him.

As good as everything with the Goblin and the Sandman were, much about Venom was terrible. The way he moved in his liquid form, conveniently sat around inert in Peter’s room, to how he looked once it bonded with Brock. I like the cartoon Venom, but the film version got shortchanged and deserved its own movie. Why couldn’t Venom have been brought in for Spiderman 4? The studio will produce it after all, whether or not the original team stays on board. He's one bad guy too many. His introduction into the story causes everything to be crowded, rushed, and overlong. Spider-Man 3 feels like it should end around the 1:40 mark, but like the Energizer Bunny, it keeps going...

The CGI in this takes a step back to the cartoony animation that was in the first film, Spiderman swinging around town looked like a tiny animated spec. The stuff with the Sandman was about as good as it could be. Focusing on the grains of sand and then expanding to see him reassemble after the experiment—very lyrical.

Considering how overloaded the film is, Raimi does juggle the characters and storylines fairly well. People will line up to watch the film and set new opening weekend box office records. But everything is just a little off, or takes a step back. The ending was touching, but I’m stumped on where Peter and MJ are headed now. People love trilogies because it's said that good things come in threes, but this series would have looked better and felt more satisfying had the filmmakers stopped at two.