Short

Life is good.

Watching the latest episodes of House, M.D. and waiting for Sons Of Anarchy to come on. A couple more days and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia will be back. And, a few days after that, new House.

Oh.

And read Charles Bukowski. Anything by him.

Right now.

Still Breathing

Yup.

Almost finished with season two of House, M.D. (The second time around), and loving every minute of it. Hugh Laurie just plays him perfectly - although it's quite funny to watch Blackadder now.

Still in a TW kick. Yup. The man can do no wrong.

Writing is steady. And steadily being deleted. Trying non stereotypical fantasy is an utter pain in the ass. Anyway, it still is being worked on although I'm not sure it'll be ready for the contest. Shame.

Bought a brand new record player - and it has a cool ability to rip the vinyl onto my HDD. Very gnarly.

Expecting a couple new EPs from Feral Ward - the new WB2D. Very excited to hear the new songs since everything in their catalogue rocks.

I'm out. More House to watch and writing to delete.

Summer Is Ending

A quick recap of the last week:

I began working on a Fantasy story, set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. It's full of witch hunters, wizards, revenge, dark humor, and a handful of pop culture references. The first chapter is about halfway done at 4500 - 5500 words with work on the second already in progress. It's very odd writing a Fantasy story, a genre which I pretty much hate. I don't care much for magic and orcs - fantasy elements, really. I'm much more of a science fiction person. For my money, there is rarely anything better than a decent sci-fi novel - besides noir perhaps. This is why I find the WHF universe interesting.

There really isn't a good vs. evil struggle, it's more of a gray area. No heroes, no saving princesses, no quests. This is where I think I found a niche in the setting. There is nothing more boring than a flawless character saving the day. Fuck that. Now, if that character had a sadistic streak and was a vegetarian, that would make it much more interesting instead of cardboard cutouts. At the same time, while writing fantasy, it's somewhat difficult to maintain originality - character wise - instead of falling into stereotypes. I can only hope that the story and characters come off as original instead of tired cliches.

Anyway, while still on the fantasy topic, there is a brand new competition on the Black Library forum - the Fan Fiction area - titled: "No Matter The Cost", which features an outlet for some seriously disturbing fiction. I've had a couple ideas for the competition, one that would utilize my love of noir and this new found admiration of fantasy.

Besides that, I've been in a serious Tom Waits kick. I have something like four-hundred tracks on my Dell DJ (Because I'm not one of those cool kids with the trendy iPods) and have fallen asleep listening to them the last few nights. There is a level of melancholy, happiness, sleaze, peace, and uniqueness to his music that is nonexistent in so many others. One track is just... cool and that is "Goin' Out West" off his Bone Machine album. It just has energy that is so intense, it can't help but get you going (As a tiny trivia nugget, the track was featured in the film Fight Club). If you listen to one piece of information in my random typing, then it is to pick up an album by Tom Waits, sit down, and just play it. There are different eras though.

Up to the mid-70s or so, he relied more on piano and had a much more "friendly" voice instead of the gruff growl he has of recent times. The eighties were where he moved onto a more alternative sound and then, with Bone Machine he branched off into something fully unique. One track is pseudo-gospel while the next is Tom Waits beatboxing. Diversity, for sure.

Favorite tracks are: "Goin' Out West", "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)", "Heart Attack And Vine", and "Altar Boy."

The fact that he has worked with William S. Burroughs and Jim Jarmusch is just the cherry on top.

Besides music, I've been watching House, M.D. It's one of the shows that you either love or hate. Hugh Laurie plays Greg House, a misanthropic doctor, obsessed with finding the answer, no matter the consequences. Sure, the show's research sucks, but it still has good writing and characterization.

Denis Leary's Rescue Me series finished its latest season tonight. Another cliff hanger - how many times does someone have to get into a car crash, have their family/child kidnapped, be shot, or have something else, completely horrible happen to them? To me, the show's writing really stands out. One moment you'll be laughing your ass off and the next will be depressing - Rescue Me is the only other show than The Shield, which has ever brought me to physical tears). Looking forward to seeing how they're going to pick it up next season.

The only good side of Rescue Me concluding is that Sons Of Anarchy will be on next week - 10PM EST on F/X. Henry Rollins is guest staring. Will be interesting, to say the least.

That's it for now. Have some more House to watch and then it's nap time. Have to get to work bright and early tomorrow.

Different

The last couple days have been uneventful except in the writing area. At the moment, it seems like I've exhausted my 40K ink bottle. Like everything else, I can plan tain it all and really pull together some nifty ideas, but there is no execution. And then something strange happened. I had a wild idea about writing a fantasy story. Well, it wasn't exactly a wild idea - I've binged on Electric Wizard and started rereading Mervyn Peake's excellent novel Titus Groan. Anyways, I finished the first draft of Chapter One in the span of a few days - a total of 4000 words (Chump change for most, but it was like climbing a mountain for me). It's hard to put it into a synopsis because there are so many little plot lines and ideas but a quick run down would be: the hunt for the wizard in black involves many people. The working title is "Dark Horse" but it'll probably change to some random Rolling Stone song because that's what I usually do. Hehe.

I watched a couple of interesting films over the last week or so. Besides Inglorious Basterds, which has plenty of coverage on the blog already, there was a surprisingly good thriller/horror flick titled P2. It's the story of this weird security who traps a girl inside a parking garage on Christmas Eve. Some gnarly violence - a guy had his intestines pour forth like spaghetti noodles - and a little plot stupidity, but otherwise an okay film. The next was In A Dark Place. Leelee Sobeiski is quite the looker and was the only good thing in the film. It had the usual horror elements: nanny, old manor, and children. Eh. But she is hot in it, so, not a total loss.

The thing that has me completely scared is the new Bad Lieutenant film starring Nick Cage and Eva Mendes. The original Bad Lieutenant is one of the most powerful films I've ever seen. It stars Harvey Keitel as LT. He is a degenerate cop - like really degenerate. He shoots heroin, snorts coke, robs a corner store, does something unspeakable to a pair of girls, etc. He's not a nice dude. Bad Lieutenant is the only film that ever made me want to take a shower after watching it. It's just grimy and depressing yet one of the most poignant redemption films. I spoil the plot because that'd be uncool but if you're interested, make sure you find the NC-17 version, not the R. What scares me about the new film is that no one from the original is even included. Abel Ferrera, the original director and writer, isn't even included. Why would they make a film that has such power and original ideas and make it a hollywood nightmare? Wouldn't it just have been easier to have a new title, because no matter how the new one is, it'll never match the original. I don't understand the film world sometimes. Anyway.

Music wise, it has been the same stuff really. A lot of WB2D, Driller Killer, Severed Head Of State, and Post Regiment, one of the finest melodic punk bands that has ever existed. Their album Czarzly has the perfect mix of punk, melody, and dare I say, pop? Actually, their entire oeuvre is worth checking out.

Watch this space for more "Dark Horse" information.

The Verdict

I saw it yesterday and have to say, wow. The reason why I didn't post a review last night was because I wanted - needed - a day or so to just mellow out and take a step back. So, with that time, I present the review for Inglorious Basterds.

The film starts off with a pseudo-Spaghetti western theme and then shows the beautiful French countryside. Nazi vehicles approach a farm and we are then shown the film's chief antognist, Colonel Landa of the SS a.k.a. The Jew Hunter. He's charming, highly intelligent, and ruthless. After a scene of violence, we, the viewer, are shown the Basterds.

You've seen the promos, trailers, t.v. spots, so I won't go into who exactly is a Basterd, but Brad Pitt and Eli Roth are in top form. One of the only drawbacks in the film was the characterization of the Basterds. Besides Aldo (Pitt) and Donny(ie?) a.k.a. Bear Jew (Roth) - Omar gets some attention towards the bloody ending - the others really don't get much attention. They're just names. Wait, I forgot Hugo. Hugo gets a cool title introduction and a gnarly flashback scene. He was a nazi who killed thirteen of his own officers. The Basterds naturally break him out and adopt him, so to speak.

The Basterds have one job: to destroy nazi morale. This of course means scalping nazis and carving swastikas into the survivors. And this is shown in full bloody detail.

Fast forward and you meet Shoshanna, a girl from the film's beginning. She's in Paris, under an alias, and runs a cinema house. After chatting with a German soldier, she finds out he's a war hero and is about to star in a film titled "Nation's Pride."

I'm going to shut up about the plot now because I don't want to spoil anything else. For a two and a half hour film, it moves very quickly, but nothing ever seems rushed. Besides the issues with characterization, it doesn't have any glaring holes. The film is littered with Tarantino-isms such as a lot of dialogue - most of it was just gold, especially Brad Pitt's, bloody violence, and some great music (Bowie was completely unexpected).

A little bit on the violence. The film is violent, end of story. But it's very well done violence. A shoot out in a tavern happens in the span of perhaps twenty seconds, adding realism to a somewhat unbelievable film (I'm going to ignore the part about Hitler's demise... very creative to say the least).

Expect a couple cool cameos - Sam Jackson as the narrator, Harvey Keitel as a General, and even Mike Myers. The other actors were superb. Christoph Waltz, who played Landa, portrayed one of the most evil yet compelling villians in recent history. He's calm and articulate yet has violent tendenacies. And his demise is just nasty.

Overall, Inglourious Basterds is a film to match the best of Tarantino's oeuvre. It has the wit and dialogue of Pulp Fiction, the good pace of Reservoir Dogs, and the almost campy but cool stylings of Kill Bill. But it stands apart from the rest being a war film. It's definitely no comedy like some of ads are portraying it, but there are a couple of good laughs.

Definitely one of the finer films of the year, that's for damn sure.

Four Severed Thumbs Out Of Four.

Basterd

In fourteen hours, I'll be in a nice dark theater, watching Quentin Tarantino's new film, Inglorious Basterds. To be completely honest, I'm not a fanboy by any stretch of the imagination, but his films happen to be some of my favorites. Reservoir Dogs, while it may be a lot like City On Fire, still has quotable dialogue, some gnarly gun fights, and laughs. Pulp Fiction... Is probably in the top 5 list. It's a film that just gets better every time you see you because you pick up little things - and Walken is simply awesome. Jackie Brown was meh - probably the only QT film I've only seen once.

The Kill Bill duology, if done by any other director/writer, might've failed. It's got a bit of everything: kung-fu, love, hate, katana fights, amputation, and Uma. But, somehow, every works out into one cohesive plot.

Death Proof is an interesting case. It's definitely a QT film - the plot/dialogue but it just doesn't hit me like Pulp or Dogs. Now, that's not saying I don't like the film. Rosario Dawson is in it, 'nuff said. Worth a rental, for sure.

Anyways, stepping away from the QT tangent I suddenly got into, but sticking with killing Nazis, I picked up Wolfenstein, the new game from the Wolfenstein franchise - duh. At first glance, it looks like another COD rip-off, but after you pass the first couple levels, it starts picking up speed and carves its own niche.

The boss battles are pretty cool - sometimes a bit too easy and predictable. One you have to blow out these pillars and the one I'm on now, well, it's a bit more difficult. It's a giant bug. Yup.

So far - around 60% finished - I'd give it 4/5.

*

Writing wise, I finished out a rough outline for "The Priest..." and a follow up piece titled "The Necroqueen's Court." I've put myself on a tight schedule: I want to have the stories written and fully edited by year's end. From the planning, it looks like each story is going to be around 7000 words. Very excited about that.

I've also put up a new link in that link bank thing on the side: Chun's Corner. He recently revamped the site so now it has all his stories in one place and a bunch of other, great features. Stop by and give a read. "Hypocrisy In The Land Of The Dead" is a personal favorite.

Some news in regards to the monthly workshop. After the August workshop, control is being passed to Mossy Toes. Good luck sir.

The Weekend

After a couple of busy work days, it's almost over. One more day and I have a day off - perfect timing to catch up on some online reading and sleep. A quick review of some of my reading material:

"Plaything" by Mossy Toes

For a more in depth review, check a couple posts down, but I read one of the later updates. It was a bit rougher than previous updates (And he could've edited it by now, so give it a look through) but still is quite good.

"Lost And Broken Things" by Sholto

Another fine piece of writing from Sholto, one of the most talented writers on the BL forum. If I remember correctly, it is a failed Fear The Alien entry, but that doesn't matter. What you have here is another finely polished tale with an intriguing plot and characterization. The first 3000 words have been posted up.

Besides those stories, I haven't read much online. For novels, I've been picking up Steven Savile's The Von Carstein trilogy, which is a WHF tale of vampires and violence - although it's a reread. Savile has a great style - it's quick and to the point, but the details are sometimes what makes the story/chapter. And, another reread is Simon R. Green's Something From The Nightside, which is a dark and pulpy romp through the Nightside, where it's always 3am. Good stuff.

As of yesterday, I finally started writing - not planning! - a story set in the Warhammer 40000 universe. The working title is "The Priest Or So They Called Him" and it includes cannibalism, religion, and a bunch of other nasty stuff. It's not a ridiculously long story, so expect to see it on a forum near you within the next few months (Like I said before, the editing stage is being enhanced and prolonged and, I won't be posting anything, on the forum, unless it's finished.). Feels good to actually write again instead of scribble notes on possible plots and characters.

So, hopefully, the week will be a bit more calm than the last - school supply shopping brings in the crowds - and I can focus on writing instead of slacking.

And this makes the week better already:

Inglourious Basterds - August 21st 2009.

And with Halloween II coming out August 28th, I'm going to be spoiled with good cinema.