-
the key to obsession
The Sci Fi Channel’s original TV mini-series, The Lost Room, just finished its run on this side of the Atlantic. I’m always delighted when a TV show (especially one from Sci Fi, which has a very uneven track record) exceeds my expectations. The story revolves around a room that is lost in time and space, but can be accessed through any door if a special key is inserted and turned in a tumbler lock. The key is one of approximately a hundred objects that originate from the room, but in our reality they have extraordinary, and often bizarre, powers. Detective Joe Miller (Peter Krause) comes into possession of the key…
-
interludes and elder gods
The holiday season is such a distraction. It’s nice to meet up with friends and family, exchange gifts, share a meal, and over-indulge a little, but there’s a limit to my ability to dodge my internal taskmistress. She’s strict, and has no tolerance for excuses. Yet, even though I haven’t written much in the last week I’m currently growing a bunch of stories in my mind. The Novel Idea is simmering. A new short story is taking shape. It’s weird, set in a strange place, and the main character is flitting in and out of my periphery imagination all the time. I’m hesitant to write anything down. It feels too…
-
one for the calendar
IFTN mentions an event that should interest Irish screenwriters, playwrights, and film aficionados. A new play by New York playwright and Oscar-winning screenwriter John Patrick Shanley (Moonstruck, Alive) will debut in Ireland on Thursday 26th October at the Abbey Theatre. The Tony-winning play is called Doubt, and is set in a Bronx Catholic school in 1964. Following the premier of the play there will be a free post-show event, which will start around 9.30pm. Oscar nominated Irish writer/director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, In America) will be “In Conversation” with John Patrick Shanley, and the two men will discuss the play, Hollywood, and filmmaking. It should be an event well…
-
bird-watching
I watched Hitchcock‘s The Birds last night since I haven’t seen it in many years. I remember reading the original short story by Daphne Du Maurier as a kid after watching the film, and was creeped out by both of them. Evan Hunter adapted the script. The Birds is interesting because it takes so long before the birds launch their attacks, and most of the opening section is about the flirtation between lawyer Mitch (Rod Taylor) and playgirl Melanie (Tippi Hedren), and Mitch’s family dynamics – especially the relationship between his mother, Lydia (Jessica Tandy), his sister, Cathy (Veronica Cartwright), and his ex-girlfriend, Annie (Suzanne Pleshette). There is a great…
-
a long post about a frightful weekend
There is always a period of catching up that is required after any trip abroad, no matter how short. Just sorting out my email can take half a day. As usual I had a brilliant time at FrightFest in London. It was my fourth year attending the genre festival, and it was the strongest programme, and the best facilities that they’ve organised thus far. We were in the Odeon West End again this year, but in the 800-seat theatre downstairs, which has comfortable seating, air-conditioning, a big screen, and a thumping sound system. Many of these elements are essential when you’re sitting on your ass for four days in a…
-
tell it slant
At Clarion Maureen McHugh reminded us of a line from a poem by Emily Dickinson: “Tell all the truth, but tell it slant.” Maureen placed the emphasis on tell it slant. It’s a piece of advice that is so simple that it has stayed with me since. I’ve been trying to eradicate lazy writing from my prose. It’s a humbling exercise because it highlights how often I lapse into cliché, or use a common turn of phrase, in my fiction. Now, I try to see objects, people, and events in a different way. This allows me to describe them slant. So I set myself a related exercise. I love to…
-
the devil loves good stories
While taking a break from the heat in Seattle (yep, the temperature soared one weekend to record-breaking heights), I accompanied a group of classmates to The Devil Wears Prada. I took the time to watch a few films while in the USA, despite feelings of guilt for doing so, and this was one of my favourites. The story is simple and utilises conventional formula, but is saved by a complex performance by Meryl Streep as the powerful fashion mogul, Miranda Priestly, and strong screenwriting by Aline Brosh McKenna. Anne Hathaway acquits herself as Andrea Sachs, the naïve graduate who is catapulted into the glamorous world of haute couture as an…
-
Clarion abú
I’m back in Ireland. I’m still alive, and I survived the Clarion West experience. I gave up blogging, as you’ll have noticed from the dearth of entries, because I didn’t have the spare energy. I’m not usually one for stats, but here’s what I did during Clarion: Ist week: 3,200 2nd week: 4,400 3rd week: 3,400 4th week: 7,700 5th week: 8,000 6th week: 6,700 That’s 33,400 words over 6 weeks, which is approximately 5,500 words per week. That’s not that great, really. If I analysed it closely, the longest it took me to complete a story was 3 days. I averaged about 1,855 words a day in that case–although…
-
a return to a simple joy
The weather in Ireland has been more capricious of late. An unpredictable climate is the heritage of our island country; the first chunk of rock to welcome the roaring waves of the Atlantic, which are driven crazy by thousands of miles of solitary travel from Newfoundland. Today, the wind–fresh from its travel across the ocean–shakes the trees in my back garden like a madman throttling his victim, and rips the last of the blossoms off the branches. It’s a perpetual twilight due to the endless muffling clouds. The rain drums against my house, dewing the windows, and rattling out memories of angry white-capped waves that drove towards my homeland with…
-
"I hope her bones are firm. "
During the past week I watched all three of the Lord of the Rings movies. I still like them. It makes Jackson’s recent offering, King Kong, look rather shallow in comparison. There is no excuse for the unforgivably-long pre-Skull Island sequence, which is supposed to establish characters and motives, but only tires us. King Kong is a B-movie. It’s a beauty-and-the-beast story, where a big ape falls in love with an incompatible mate. It’s equal parts action and melodrama. Or at least, it should be. The CGI Kong is the true hero of Jackon’s movie, and once he’s on-camera, ripping apart dinosaurs or bonding with Ann Darrow, then the movie…
