Hollywood Hopes Bigger is Better at the Box Office
Since mentioning BFG yesterday, I've found that size will indeed matter in a pair of movies out in the coming years. This is strange timing, as I've just finished a draft on a short story saluting the big and tall called, "Starsky and Goliath." Meanwhile, coming to the cinema:
Gigantic
Here is conflict, I think.
Yes, Jack and his beanstalk return, this time in a Disney animated musical set for release in 2018. You got your good giants and your bad giants, though it's tough to beat Attack on Titan for creepy colossi. (Hajime Isayama's popular manga-animated series-video game-film is the benchmark for big and bad. I've spoofed it and enough on that.) I have an odd feeling Gigantic will veer off in a more peppy direction. Nathan Greno of Tangled fame is parked in the director's chair.
Pacific Rim 2: Maelstrom
Mecha. Would you agree?
With a new release date of February 23, 2018, this sequel to the 2013 kaiju vs. mecha mashup has Steven S. DeKnight directing and, I'm guessing, enough new kaiju and mecha to keep fans as happy as large people with ample food.
On the subject of releases, my horror novel Hallow Mass will be discounted in Kindle form for the 4th of July weekend. Save, save, and, I say, save $4.00 beginning today at 8:00 AM Pacific Time and continuing through Saturday, July 2 when a tale of obligation in the face of terror will be available for .99 The savings continue Sun. and Mon. July 3 and 4 with a $2.00 discount, ending Tue. July 5. Snag your copy and follow the adventures of party girl and reluctant wizard Mercy O'Connor.
A famous director and a book about nice giants. Is it enough?
Giant Film OK But Fails to Meet Expectations
Based on a novel by Roald Dahl, the i09 review explains that:
". . . The BFG is about a young orphan named Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) who is taken from her London home by a big, friendly giant (a performance capture Mark Rylance). The BFG, as she begins to call him, takes her to a magical world where he collects and manipulates dreams. Sophie realizes that, despite his size, she and The BFG share some insecurities, and solving those becomes something the pair embrace with all their heart."
Directed by Steven Spielberg for Disney, the reviewer felt that such a powerhouse lineup should result in a powerhouse film. But as we know, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Read the whole thing.
Horror Book Discount Starts July 1
Tomorrow! Canada Day! Throughout the 4th of July weekend, Hallow Mass will be available in Kindle for discounts ranging from $2.00 to $4.00. Who will win the sorcery duel atop Sentinel Hill? A diabolical warlock or a grad school party girl? Take advantage of this unique offer while it is still unique, before the bloom is off the rose, the paint off the car, the fur off the cat.
A Turn to Established Authors Aids in Battling Writer's Block
For me, writer's block does not involve a blank screen. It manifests itself in page after page of unreadable word chum. So I decided to keep open on my desk various books from a variety of successful authors. When in need of a description or character trait or fresh metaphor, I turn to these scribes for inspiration. For instance, I was trying to describe my protagonist and read this passage from Charles Bukowski's short story, "The Most Beautiful Woman in Town."
"Cass was the most beautiful girl in town. [Half] Indian with a supple and strange body, a snake-like and fiery body with eyes to go with it. Cass was fluid moving fire. She was like a spirit stuck into a form that would not hold her."
I'd probably have written, "Cass was real good looking and sexy."
In any case, I wrote nothing so poetic, but I did think of a decent description and moved on from there.
A variety of styles, themes and genres comprise the eight books I'm currently using for inspiration:
The Most Beautiful Woman in Town and Other Stories - Charles Bukowski.
Glue - Irvine Welsh
The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty
Elmore Leonard's Western Roundup # 3 Valdez is Coming and Hombre - Elmore Leonard.
Animation Ace Pens Graphic Batman Novel Based on Real Life Events
Back in the day at Warner Bros., I recall Paul Dini describing the beating he took at the hands of two muggers. He was pounded pretty good. As is the way of violence, it lingered in his life for decades. But Dini has finally found a way to turn the attack to good use. He's written a graphic novel built around his experience and its aftermath. Twenty-three years later, according to the LA Weekly, "in Dark Night, Dini tells his tale in a way that connects the trauma to the crime fighters and criminals who lived in his [TV animation] work."
With art by Eduardo Risso, Dark Night:A True Batman Story depicts the Caped Crusader "as the savior who helps a discouraged man recover from a brutal attack that left him unable to face the world."
The Weekly article feels the story "benefits from the perspective of years past. Says Dini, 'I had to go beyond it and I had to reach this point of, I survived and that's enough."
In addition, ". . . Dini wasn't just better able to revisit the attack but also he could see the benefit of sharing his story with others. 'I began thinking, maybe there are people who have gone through things like this, or similar tragedies, and that's arrested their life in some way,' he says. 'Maybe this could be a way of telling people that if someone life me could get through a situation like this, then they could, too.'
As the months zip past like tumbleweed in a derecho, the book trailer for my lampooning of Fifty Shades of Grey continues to attract eyeballs. The text that has been called, 'completely cracked' by Bookangel quietly awaits new readers. Learn for yourself the secrets of the Trap Room and the choices made by young, innocent Anna Ironhead
Not to crow excessively, but here is another Bookreels screen grab of 50ZG holding down the pole position in the Humor category,
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Tomorrow will see the arrival of the latest Hallow Mass book trailer. Actually, two trailers in the next week or so. Somehow trailer three will be released before two. But that is a mystery not worth delving into.
During Vietnam, he volunteered for dangerous assignments,
operating far behind enemy lines.
After the war, he battled drugs and
alcohol.
Eventually, he sobered up and went to work for a vending
machine company.
For many years, he traveled in a van around Los Angeles fixing coffee and soda machines.
Now imagine knowing TWO men with the exact same history. (But different vending machine companies.)
I was honored to be friends with such a pair. They came into my life at different times out in California and it was eerie how their backgrounds meshed in such odd intimate ways. Once I introduced them to each other at a party, figuring they'd have lots in common,
but after a few polite minutes they separated.
They'd experienced stranger things.
The Rockpile and Dak To: 1966 - 1968
A Marine, Kurt initially served in Bravo Company, 3rd Recon Battalion in 1966. Wounded twice, he was stationed in I Corp in northern South Vietnam monitoring enemy forces infiltrating across the DMZ. By early 1968, Kurt was operating out of Khe Sanh, running patrols in Laos along the Ho Chi Minh Trail on operations so secret that Americans who died there were never officially acknowledged. Kurt had extended his service to go to Vietnam. He rotated home before the siege, returning to America only to be confronted in a bus depot by a man angry over the war. (The angry man didn't fare well against Kurt.)
T.J. originally fought with the 12th Infantry on Operation MacArthur near Dak To. He loathed the brutal randomness of combat—here one second gone the next and decided his odds would be better in the LRRPs (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol). Instead of waiting to be hit, TJ crept
around North Vietnamese base camps in the Central Highlands, calling in air and artillery strikes, picking off sentries, and making the enemy nervous. He returned to serve out his last few months at Fort Knox, conducting tours of the U.S. Gold Reserve. One night while watching television he started shaking and broke into tears.
In 2002 I made a business trip to Vietnam. I brought Kurt back a little Buddha and some red clay from Khe Sanh. TJ collected Buddhas the way some people collect Pokemon cards. So I picked him out a honey in Saigon: a big, fat happy Buddha, smiling like he'd just won the Power Ball, holding up the Pearl of Knowledge.
