Here’s something I designed as a lark, but might come handy one of these days…
The Deep (1977)
I don’t remember exactly when I saw Peter Yates’ The Deep, the movie based on Peter Benchley’s novel of the same title, for the first time. I know where I saw it – in an open-air movie place in Diano Marina, while on vacation with my family. A movie about the sea, in a seaside movie theater.
It was 1978 or something.
I am absolutely sure that my devastating crush for Jacqueline Bisset has its deepest roots in this movie.
Now, I re-watched it yesterday afternoon, in a pause in my writing, while I enjoyed a big serving of chocolate ice cream with whipped cream.
And truth to be told, with the exception of the underwater footage and Jacqueline Bisset (yes, I’ve still got that crush), this is not a particularly good movie.
It was filmed two years after Jaws, but it does not have the stopping power and the persistence of Spielberg’s movie. Continue reading
I’m starting a new venture
Let’s say this post is sort of a dry run.
I’m starting a sort of new venture,a new job I invented for myself and my brother.
It went like this…
I was wandering through the Amazon reviews pages during the weekend, and I found out this review from hell… (I’m leaving the title and author of the book out)
If I could give a zero star I would. If authors are going to set novels in a country they are not a native of then the very least they can do is research it properly. Elizabeth George has managed to do so most successfully. This book is so full or errors about the UK police force it is laughable. For example, British police officers are NOT routinely armed – thank goodness. People who work for the forensic and scientific departments are not police officers but they obviously report to the appropriate police officers. We don’t use yellow crime scene tape in this country – it is blue and white. We don’t refer to police officers as Detective or Agent but would give them their rank, for example Detective Inspector or D.I. and so on. I could go on but it’s tedious!!! I think the author has been seduced by the TV programmes of CSI as that is what it seems to ape and presumably this is where she did her research! […] My advice? Don’t waste your time. This is a few hours I will never get back!!!
Ugly, what?
And yes, it’s something I’ve already talked about on this blog in the past – doing research, the joys thereof, and the horrors of not doing it. Continue reading
Writing Prompt – Tomb king
This one was supposed to go online yesterday, but then more urgent matters required a post. So here it is now…
The painting is called The Tomb King, and was created by Jarrod Owen. My friend Marina saw it, and pointed it out to me.
And this is an anomalous prompt, because it is actually a perfect reference for a story I am writing. The story is called The Revenge of Ankhefenkhos, and it is part of my series about the adventures of Aculeo & Amunet. It will probably be the longest thing I wrote about these characters, and it will take time.
Five Indiana Jones Books
OK, so another anniversary approaches – 35 years of Indiana Jones.
I really, really can’t believe it, but it’s been 35 years since Raiders of the Lost Ark was released.
So, I need to write something about Indiana Jones – and I’m trying to put together a proper celebratory, fanboy-ish post.
Meanwhile, I thought I’ll do one of those posts that my SEO guru says are big with the blog crowd and a guarantee to get Google happy1.
A nice little list of five Indiana Jones related books you might want to check out before – or after – you re-watch the classic 1981 movie.
And of course this is my list, your mileage might vary, and I’d be happy to discover more Indy-friendly titles, so please have your say in the comments section. Continue reading
Nice
I don’t do “political” posts, usually.
But the fact is, last night we got home after the movie and heard about the Nice killings. Both my brother and I are very fond of Nice, we love the town, the people, the sea. We try and spend at least one day there every year.
We have friends there – and we spent part of the night messaging them to make sure they were all right. Which feels terribly selfish in the face of all the dead and injured. Our friends are fine – many others are not.
As usual, they hit a celebration – happy people having a good time.
The DAESH is trying to force us to become like them, to become radicalized – a joyless people that only thinks in dualities: black/white, right/wrong, them/us, friends/enemies. But the real world is not like that, and we know.
They need an enemy because without an enemy they are nothing.
They need a Crusade against them to justify their existence.
We won’t fall for such a ploy.
We are better than that.
We are part of a civilization and we paid our dues in terms of wars, tragedies, and age-old hatreds to get where we are – we’ve been there, done that, and saw it doesn’t work.
And yet do you see, how easy it is to slip into that them/us duality?
Because there are a lot of other civilizations and peoples and histories and religions and political stances – and they all are better than this small core of deranged losers killing people as a form of throwing a tantrum.
My thoughts go to the victims and their families.
The Legend of Tarzan (2016)
So, I went and saw The Legend of Tarzan, the latest entry in a long, long series of movies based – with varying degrees of respect for the original – on the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Mentioning Burroughs and his books straight away is, I think, important, because in the last few days I saw a few reviews that were obviously written by people that has no familiarity whatsoever with the Tarzan novels, and only a passing familiarity with other Tarzan movies.
And here, the point becomes interesting: is it possible to consider The Legend of Tarzan separately from the huge body of works that came before, and most of all, can the two approaches – the movie as a stand-alone work and as the last element in along chain of works – lead to radically different perceptions of the movie?
Let’s see… Continue reading
Karavansara 