Musings

I know I should be finishing up my trip report about New York, but I feel compelled to take time to bitch, moan, complain, vent and generally hurrumph.

Could somebody please put HEROES out of it’s misery? After the third dull episode I’d vowed not to watch again. Putting aside the fact that the show was boring, there was the big cheat of having everybody who’d been dead at the end of first season suddenly be alive after all. Don’t ask me for an emotional response and then say “gotcha”!

But I still hadn’t removed the season pass for HEROES off my tivo. And I suppose it’s curiosity because I’m back writing in a superhero universe so I kept tuning in week after week. Well, I think tonight they have finally managed to drive me away for good.

Guess what? The cheerleader’s dad has superpowers too! And he has the same power as his daughter. He just recovered from being shot in the eye. And guess who shot him? The kindly doctor because Dad was about to shoot the man who had kidnapped his daughter. Little out of character? Don’t get me started on the doc. He’s infiltrating the evil company in order to take it down, but then he confesses to the creepy head of the company that he’s working with Claire’s daddy to destroy the company. I have no idea why. The concept of motivation seems beyond these people.

The telepathic cop has daddy issues. Hates his dad, but has decided to act just like his dad. And the mysterious killer of the older generation turns out to be the drunken Englishman that Hiro met in Samurai Japan. Why is he killing them? Because they locked him up because he was “dangerous”. These people have never hesitated to kill each other, but they decide not to kill him? Huh? But he can heal, you might say. Well, let’s see him heal from being dismembered and cremated. And if he can’t be killed he’s a god, and there is no consequence to any of this. But there is no consequence because _nobody will stay dead_.

And stupid. Why is everybody in this show so stone stupid? Creepy company guy kidnapps Claire and after they free her she and her boyfriend go back home to cuddle on the bed while mom pets her dog, and nobody _gets the hell out of dodge because the company is trying to kidnapp Claire_! I swear if anyone in our gaming group played this stupid Walter would have killed us so dead.

Sorry, I’m back now.

Then there was the book that I finished reading last night. THE GEOGRAPHER’S LIBRARY by Jon Fasman starts out great. It has a fascinating narrator with a distinctive voice, and this author has a gift for description that had me sighing with envy. Consider this description of one of the journalists at the paper. “He resembled a human pinwheel: tall and thin, with a perpetually surprised expression, a loping, reeling gait, and a shock of clumpily wild red hair.”

But the structure — oh my God. The book has alternating chapters between the past where people in different eras are searching for rare objects that are necessary for the art of alchemy, and first person chapters written by this young journalist who is trying to write an obituary for this mysterious old professor.

I was loving this book, but I kept thinking that all these chapters in the past really needed to pay off and be part of the solution of the present day proble. If they didn’t this book was going to fail. Well, they didn’t and the book failed. It ended up feeling like the author really wanted to write a historical, but was afraid that wouldn’t sell so he hungit on a thriller (a la the DA VINCI CODE) framework.

Aside from promising me something and not paying it off, the author also disappointed me because this wonderful hero he created ultimately has no effect on anything. The problem is solved by outside agents, and our hero goes home to live in his mom’s basement and sulk.

I’m going to read QUEEN FERRIS and at least there are two more episodes of Torchwood before the season ends.

This was a terrific movie experience. (No, and not just because Viggo was naked). It started at the most basic story and structure level, and it paid off completely. As you watched the writer and director would pull your attention to little things, but it was never heavy handed. Then when you reached the end all the context was in place and you could nod your head admiringly and say, “Oh, so that’s why he did X or said Y.” That kind of fierce control of plot and structure is something I admire, and I think it is critical for a good viewing or reading experience. If a writer or a movie doesn’t know where they are going they will lose me very early in the process. The book is put aside and never picked up again, and I’ve been known to walk out of movies. This is a particular interest of mine because I seem to excel at plot and structure.

Putting aside my personal hobby horse - writing — I thought each performance was beautifully crafted down to the tiniest walk on part. Pay close attention to our heroine’s uncle. It’s an amazing role. Viggo was terrific, but the actor playing Kyrill will break your heart. I see some Academy nominations coming out of this movie.

This is a film I would see again, and I don’t often feel that way. At least we’re getting into the season of good movies again. Past time as far as I’m concerned. I’m sick of action movies where they are really just a Roadrunner/Coyote cartoon with humans. I love action, but let it be real. The fight in the steam room in Eastern Promises is as real as it gets.

Melinda

I’m slowly sampling some of the new shows this season. I just finished watching the pilot of JOURNEYMAN, and will catch episode two tonight. (Tivo is wonderful). Anyway, I quite like the show because I fell in love with Kevin McKidd when he played Vorenus in ROME. I was shouting at the television — “Why don’t you find out some information about this guy your keep running across in the past?”, but overall I liked it. The scene where he wants to sleep with his lost love, but sees his wedding ring is wonderful.

I missed recording BIONIC WOMAN, but I caught the last forty minutes on Sci Fi. It’s nice and dark, and there seem to be some intersting mysteries, but it felt like important scenes got cut from the script or cut in editing so it felt very choppy. The girl is pretty, but she’s just not up to Starbuck’s weight.

Of course I watched the opener of my beloved HOUSE. I love Wilson. Watching these two overgrown boy’s play testosterone games is wonderful. The big disappointment has been HEROES. I hated the season ender, and I thought the season opener was snoringly dull. They need to lose that droning V.O. opening. There were also no surprises. Oh wait, Hiro is the hero of ancient Japan that he so loves and admires. Boy, I sure didn’t see that coming. And why, why do people who are supposed to be dead not stay dead? Don’t ask me for an emotional response, and then say, “Ha, fooled you.”

On my front — Ian and I finished the rewrite of OUTPOST on Sunday. Our manager is reading the script and will give us line notes in the next few days. Fingers crossed that it finds a home. I really like what we’ve done.

Melinda

This movie had been sent by Netflix weeks ago, and I just kept avoiding loading it into the DVD player. With Carl heading off to his new job we decided to clear the boards and give this a go. I’m _so_ glad I watched this film. Leonardo di Caprio’s performance was nothing short of stunning as was Dijmon Hounsoul. Aside from the power of this story I was so pleased to watch a film where human bodies can only take so much punishment, and people can’t shrug off a gun shot wound. After a summer of essentially Roadrunner/Coyote cartoons this was a welcome, if brutal, reminder of the costs of violence.

The scene where the helicopter gunship flies in and rockets the rebel forces (many of whom are ten and twelve year old boys) was horrific. Watching some of the brainwashed children turn back into terrified babies left me terribly shaken. Then this morning as I was preparing breakfast I heard Chris Dodd reflect about the importance of the rule of law when he was interviewed about the book of his father’s letters from the Nuremburg trial. Dodd said that this look back had relevance to today because when Churchill and the Russians wanted to summarily execute the Nazis, the American’s argued for due process. He considered this an example of America at it’s moral best. Then he contrasted it with today where we have Guantanamo and the abrogation of habeus corpus.

This was followed by a story about a college student being tasered when he hogged a mike because he wanted an answer from Senatory Kerry. To Kerry’s credit he kept shouting at the police to let the kid ask his question and that he (Kerry) would answer. But in Bush World any challenge to authority is met with a stunning overreaction.

All of this had me thinking back to the activism of the sixties and early seventies. Was it all only fueled because of the draft? I’m not saying the boomers were/are more moral or involved then other people, but why was there this surge of activity for justice? Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, defendents rights the anti-war movement. I wondered if in addition to the draft some of it was the economy in that period. People felt pretty secure financially. Now kids are desperately afraid there won’t be a job for them when they finish college. It’s hard to spare a thought for others when you’re so worried about your own future.

Add to that the news that the Northwest Passage is now free of ice, and I’m having a very melancholy start to the day.

Melinda

So, Ian and I are about to start a rewrite on our script after getting notes from my amazing manager. The fact we missed the mark is probably mostly my fault. I took what I thought Prevett was saying, and I pushed us too far in the direction of “making it real”. As Michael said we made it so real that by the middle of act two he forgot he was reading about a space station. That’s a problem. Michael gave us permission to really use the environment, and Ian came up with some great scenes and moments to remind the reader/viewer that we are “in space, stupid”, it’s really dangerous and you can _die_. We are getting to kill some characters and that’s always fun.

Writers are such a murderous lot. As my friend Vic Milan often says — “I just hope characters don’t get to form a union, and come back after you for pain and suffering.”

It’s also an explanation for why we create such unpleasant gods. It’s just so much fun to screw with people.

Melinda

So, I’ve had a very good day. Ian and I put the final touches on the first draft of OUTPOST and I emailed it to my manager. I really like this script which is a very good feeling. So often as a writer you finish something and you think, Oh God, that sucks. This time I’m pretty pleased.

I then ended my evening watching Dr. Who, and episode called Family of Blood. I’ve been very disappointed in season three so far, but they have come back with a bang. It was an absolutely terrific episode. I adore David Tennannt. I want to have his baby. Okay, maybe not, but I want to cast him in something I write.

I was very pleased that The Girl in the Fireplace won the Hugo. I would love to see this episode nominated, but it’s a two parter and that might be hard to fit within the rules. Ah, well.

I’ve been up in Farmington making the final change to my personnel for the natural gas company. It’s been hard to see this last change take place. The last tie to my father is now gone. But life is change, so chin up and on into the future.

Melinda

Hollywood has changed in some ways since I last worked out there, and in other depressing ways it hasn’t changed. It still puts a premium on youth and gender (the preferred one being male), but in terms of getting an idea in front of people with the power to buy it’s become a much tighter funnel through which you have to pass. My manager and I came up with a really cool idea, but to try and get to a network we’ve been trying to attract a big name show runner or director to come on board. That hasn’t happened because it’s hard to give the full flavor of an idea when you’ve only got a page or at most two, and the manager is trying to pitch it over the phone to a company. He’s walking a tightrope because if you say too much that gives them more chances to find something they don’t like and shut you down. And if you don’t say enough they go — “Oh, I’ve heard that idea before” and shoot you down when everyone knows “it’s the execution, stupid”.

Which leaves you with the other route through the maze. You write the spec pilot to show them why this is a cool idea, and how you can execute the hell out of it. Which is what I’m in the process of doing now.

After Michael and I cooked up the high concept pitch of the idea I went away and fleshed out the characters and the kind of stories we would tell. I knew there was a big secret so I wanted to have it all worked out and as I mentioned before I brought in writer/physicist Dr. Ian Tregillis to assist me. (I hit all the honorifics for a reason, and not to make Ian blush). As Michael failed to attract a Big Name I began to see that we needed to write this sucker so I asked Ian to form a writing team with me. Aside from the fact he had put a lot of energy into coming up with the secret behind the show, and he’s a hell of a writer there are many other advantages for us as a team. I have the experience and talent which is good, but Hollywood loves the Hot New Thing, and I have a track record which makes me less interesting. Ian is the Prince from a Foreign Land, he’s male, he’s young and he’s very talented. Voila, a Hollywood team is born!

We’ve gotten the Teaser and Act One written and we’re just into Act Two. We quit last night as exhaustion overcame us, but I was also bugged because I had seen this scene before. A lot of times before. That’s one of the questions I always keep floating in the front of my mind as I write. “Have I seen this before? And if I have how can I present this information in a more interesting and fresher manner?” While driving down the Hill from Los Alamos I saw the way to start Act Two so I’m going to write so of it this afternoon, and resume with Ian this evening.

I’ll keep you posted.

Melinda

Time for another movie review. Tuesday night, George, Parris, Janice Gelb and Stephen Boucher (our friends from Australia), Carl and I headed off to see Stardust. I ended up liking this movie a lot, and, in fact, I’d like to see it again. Which is the hightest compliment I can pay a movie. I very, very rarely want to go again.

Initially I was pretty worried. First, it had a voice over, which is often a bad sign. It also got started very slowly. It wasn’t that I would have cut out any of the opening scenes, but they just went on for a very long time. Yes, I get it, he’s in love with a mean girl, he has big dreams, so let’s get on with it. I also thought the beginning was rather muddled with witches and brothers fighting for a throne, and lovesick young men, and a sassy star. Then halfway through the movie — about the time Rober di Niro came mincing onto the screen it started to win me over.

And by the end I was charmed and joined in the applause because they brought all the threads to a very satisfying braided conclusion. There were no surprises in this movie, but they did it very well and I ended up liking the characters — even the villains.

One thing that did bug me right to the end was the mixing of language styles. At times the film was very Victorian, and then suddenly our hero would be delivering a line like “Oh, get over yourself.” That kind of anachronism was jarring and would jerk me right out of the movie and the moment. Overall I would say Stardust is a lovely couple of hours.

Melinda

Yesterday morning over breakfast I mentioned to Carl that Mike Cassutt and I are making terrific progress on our spec feature SHOOT THE MOON, but I added that we need to cut it down so we hit the big end of act two moment at around page 60. He asked how long the script would be and I said we were aiming for around 110 pages. He then asked why we were going so short given the fact that many movies are running two and a half hours now. (And when it’s Spiderman 3 or Transformers it can seem like nine years.)

Anyway, that made me start to think about the choice between going to 120 or 123 pages and putting in every bit of Cool Shit you can think of, and keeping it taut and punchy. I ultimately decided that I would go for shorter and tighter and here’s my reasoning. It will give a studio suit something to mess with. In the immortal words of George R.R. Martin “they all want to piss in the soup to make it taste better”. If we haven’t played every possible beat then the exec can say, “I’d like to see a scene where _this_ happens and the writer can say, “What a good idea. I’ll add it right away.”

Of course this may not work at all because you might end up with the guy who thinks you are too stupid to have seen the possible Cool Shit scenes and rejects you and the script. But hey, as writers what we do is gambling, and Hollywood is the biggest crap shoot of them all.

After a frenzied day of meeting with a solar company for the panels to run the drip irrigation, and buying concrete pavers to support the outdoor decks that are going to be built over the next few days, and other various errands, Carl and I met Parris for a matinee of HAIRSPRAY. The film has been getting great reviews, and it was totally charming. The singing was great — the little gal playing Tracy and the kid playing Seaweed had amazing pipes. The dancing and choreography was as good if not better than the singing. Since I studied voice for years and danced very seriously — both jazz and classical ballet — I was really in heaven.

John Travolta surprised me as Edna, and I’ll see a movie if Christopher Walken is in it. (But I won’t see the ping pong movie. I have to draw the line _somewhere_) The funny thing with Travolta is when he assumed the little “I’m so touched face” he looked _just_ like Miss Piggy. I passed this on to Carl and Parris and had them howling. I recommend this film. It will bring a smile to your face, and for the Boomers it will evoke another time when activism was in the air. I wish it would come back.

Next up the Bourne movie. And I’ve got a back log of Netflix — Blood Diamond and Deja Vu.

Now it’s time to start reading for Critical Mass. We’re going to have a very heavy load for the August session.

Melinda