More pilot-related fun. I could have told you something specific about Sex and the City writer Candace Bushnell new series ‘Lipstick Jungle’, if I’d actually got past the first twenty minutes without wanting to hurl myself out of the nearest window. So, instead, here’s some spy shennanigans from the creator of ‘The O.C., and a non-advance review for a show that’s already airing, the less-than-inspired re-imagining of pulp hero Flash Gordon. Fear the spoilers…
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TV EYE: Pilot Season – ‘Californication’ and ‘Pushing Daisies’
Part one of my look at upcoming TV pilots for the 07/08 season is here – and now, two more pilots, in readiness to see what survives the bloodbath (although one is a cable show, and is therefore mostly exempt…). One’s genre, one isn’t. One has ridiculous amounts of sex, and one doesn’t. Fear the spoilers…
‘I asked you not to use the word ‘Zombie’. It’s disrespectful!’
The surgery is now open…
Work on the middle of the book began today. It’s starting to come together– slowly, but surely. There are certain other ideas that I’m having– but I’m resisting the temptation to get too complicated. I want it to be good, but I also want to finish, which won’t happen if I keep going “But, if I only changed this…“.
I also managed to get one of the reviews mostly out of the way, and watched a weird, oddly compelling (if bafflingly poetic) Korean movie called The Bow. More progress tomorrow, plus maybe a spot of floor cleaning…
ECHOES FROM THE PAST: ‘The Alchemist’ – The Out-Takes
And so, we come to the final piece of Alchemist-related video, which happenned when, after having spent hours trailing through the footage we shot, there were certain moments and certain incidents that I didn’t want to simply lose forever. In the ‘Full Metal Alchemy’ making-of, I’ve been trying to sum up what making The Alchemist meant to me, but this is probably the best way to show you what it was like to be there. Seventeen minutes of chaos and nuttiness as only me and Tris were capable of generating back then. Sometimes (I should stress- only sometimes), I really miss being sixteen…
Part 1:
and Part 2:
Enjoy…
TV EYE: Pilot Season – ‘Reaper’, ‘The Bionic Woman’ and ‘The Sarah Connor Chronicles’
Summer is here, the clock is ticking towards the start of the new season of US TV in America– so, in the spirt of forward-thinking, I’m leaping into action early, and taking a look at some of the upcoming genre-related shows that are heading our way. Once again, it’s going to probably be a combination of fun and frustrating seeing what gets recomissioned and what dies a swift death– but with both Galactica and Lost waiting until January 08 before unleashing their fourth seasons, we’re going to have to take our genre thrills where we can. Fear the spoilers- especially in relation to The Sarah Connor Chronicles- and buckle up…
FULL METAL ALCHEMY: The Making of “The Alchemist”- Part 3
It’s been four months in coming, but here’s more of the story behind my first true adventure in genuine storytelling– or, what happens when an over-enthusiastic sixteen-year-old gets hold of a video camera and decides to make a film. For those who want to play catch up– the previous Alchemist-themed entries are all here, along with Youtube links, while here’s part one of the making-of story, and here’s part two. Otherwise, read on…
Both Of You, Dance Like You Want To Win!!!
Right. That settles it.
I’ve been depressingly lax on the blogging front for too long. Most of it has been as a result of a few life-related ups and downs, but it’s also been thanks to a gigantic spell of work that’s showing no signs of slowing down. Occasionally my life gets like this– everything snowballs into everything else, until the resulting avalanche carries me off down the mountainside. I’ve spent most of this week getting a massive number of reviews out of the way, more are incoming, and I’ve now got four days of subbing next week which is (a) fantastic news and (b) guarenteeing I’ll get very little work down on the novel.
Oh, yes. The novel. I’m at the stage where I’ve got to do a major bit of surgery (essentially removing some very clunky writing and a bit of a slump in the middle). I’ve got to hack the very middle of the book out, and then make sure that I can still make everything fit together. It’d be nice if I could just sit down and start getting all the rewriting done on the final draft (for, it is about that time…) but it’s not quite there yet, and I’ve got to get it structurally sound.
On top of everything else, I’m getting nervous about what I’m going to do next. My teen novel Flipside may be resurrected very soon, but I’ve also got a plan to revive a series I worked on a very long time ago. The worrying thing is, however, there’s no way I can clear a signifcant amount of time in the next couple of months. I’m going to have to figure out (at long last) a way of making my life work while writing in small chunks. If I don’t, I’m never going to get myself started.
There will be regular updates. I’m not letting myself get out of that. Plus, there will be more TV Eye action incoming.
I guess, if I want this blog to be entertaining to read, rather than a litany of everything that’s getting me down, there’s only one way of doing it.
Here goes….
Potterdammerung
No spoilers here. Move along. Nothing to see.
Picked up Harry Potter VII for George today and, frankly, couldn’t really resist reading it first (She’s working her way through the audiobooks, and I’m a much faster reader). Not because I’m a crazed Potter fan (which I’m not)– but because they’re entertaining pageturning fantasies that manage to draw you in despite their many flaws (and their turn towards flabbiness in the more recent volumes). And because I can’t stand being spoiled on stories that I’ve enjoyed, and with the amount of Internet I look at, it’d only be a matter of time before I happen across some important detail that makes me go “AHHH! MY EYES!!! IT BURNSSSS!!!!”
So, got it at 12, finished by 9.30. And the verdict?
It’s a great ending. It’s flawed, rambling in places with some of the clumsiest exposition that Rowling’s used yet, but it’s also ridiculously epic, packed full of stuff, and with a dark attitude that takes no prisoners. It’s not going to change any Potter-haters into fans of the series, but as a cap to the series, it rounds off virtually all the loose ends with lashings of action, a handful of great character moments, and some surprisingly grim violence. The Potter books haven’t changed my life, but they’ve given me plenty of fun entertainment, and sometimes that’s all you need.
And if the movies had trouble fitting everything in with the earlier books, I don’t know how in hell they’re going to turn this into a film that isn’t just a ‘Greatest Hits’ compilation. I forsee many scriptwriting headaches ahead come 2009…
Rising Again
It’s funny how much just writing down a problem as a blog entry can help. This morning life felt difficult. Now… nothing’s changed, but things feel a little easier. I’m also hammering on with the current rewrite on the book, pushing one of the latter chapters into shape.
Maybe, just maybe, we can get through.
One More Problem….
Radio silence on the blog sometimes means that there’s not-tremendously-positive stuff happening and I really don’t want to depress people. Money is a little tight at the moment, plus there’s been a few other problems which have given life a certain negative twist for the past week (the very least of which was our Washing Machine starting to seriously malfunction). Therefore, the very last thing we needed was for Waterstones to write to George and say that, despite having declined to give her a final paycheque, that they’ve actually overpaid her by £610 and they want her to return the money. (This is apparently following on from an initial letter in February which never arrived).
I’m trying to tell myself that things are going to bounce back, but it’s rather difficult at the moment.
Saxon Bullock 