TV

Randomness for

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1) Ghosts in the Hollow, a record of abandoned buildings in the Appalachians. Video. Via Cherie Priest.

2) Have some publishing wonkery: “Sell-through” explained.

3) “YOU! The one who is moving now! ANSWER!” Video

4) Revolt in the Fifth Dimension. Video part one, part two. I loved these Spider-man cartoons as a kid, even the weird, trippy space episodes like this one. This clip is worth playing for the music alone.

5) In Legoland space, no one can hear you scream.

6) Do you love Legos and zombies? Well, this link is for you: Video.

7) Oyster beer? I’d try it.

Randomness for 9/6

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1) While I have pretty much given up on DOCTOR WHO, the chances are you haven’t. In recognition of that, a link: Warren Ellis challenges artists to create a photograph/original artwork depicting the 13th (and final) reincarnation of The Doctor. It takes a while for the art to really start coming in, so be sure to skim through the pages to check it out. Some is pretty cool.

2) “Vampire” skull discovered.

3) 600 Hanna Barbera Characters This pretty much has to be viewed at the original size. And I reject the notion that “Snorkle” was the main character on The Banana Splits. I reject it!

4) Brazillian Legolas of the cell phones.

5) A quick summation of the problems inherent in our student loan system.

6) Seanan McGuire, this year’s Campbell Award winner, lays out the dos and don’ts for folks who want to support an author with a new book out. Like her, I would rather people not send me notes about Amazon.com reviews. Unlike her, it’s because I’ve already read them. The other stuff she says is pretty much spot on, too.

7) Oh. My. God. Why didn’t anyone tell me David Fincher was making an animated movie of THE GOON??!! There’s even a trailer already! Video. It looks incredible! WANT!!!

Randomness for 7/31

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1) First Pacey-Con squelched by private police force. SDCC just isn’t like it used to be, man.

2) Autoeroticism in America (in convenient graph form!)

3) Kermit Bale. Yes, poster, you do, in fact, have too much time on your hands.

4) What does Harvard have to teach YOU about vampires in film and literature? Take the online course and find out.

5) Captain Higgins, flatworm of power!

6) Photoshop Time portals. via Kurt Busiek

7) Job prospects for 2011 in the urban fantasy world. Pretty funny, and let’s just pretend she didn’t use the phrase “tramp stamp.”

Randomness for 7/21

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1) The Creative Process, in graphic/maze form.

2) This is pretty exciting: BLU has a new stop motion video out!

3) I’m sure many of you know that there’s a new storyline in the Superman comics where he walks across America to reacquaint himself with regular people. Well, now The Mighty Thor is doing it too!

4) Baby eats his way out of a watermelon. This one isn’t very interesting, but it is awfully cute.

5) Parkour from 1930.

6) Serial book thief gets three and a half years.

7) When Josh Friedman posts to his blog, we read. It’s long, but it’s amazing. He combines development notes, TV trends, and true crime, coming out the other end with belly laughs.

“That’s so funny it makes me sad.”

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I had another good day working on The Buried King. I’ve pretty much stopped fretting about word count and daily goals–at this point I make note of the page I’m on when I start a session and the page I’m on when I stop. What the hell, right? Keeping careful records wasn’t getting the book done, so I’m not going to bother.

And with the release date for GAME OF CAGES coming up, I have a crazy load of writing to do. That means it’s time for a list! Here are all of the projects I have to complete by at least the middle of August (in no particular order).

  • A Big Idea piece for John Scalzi’s blog to promote Game of Cages.
  • Another chapter of The Buried King so my agent can send it to publishers.
  • A thorough, careful revision of the opening chapters of The Buried King.
  • A “shot list” or “shooting script” for the trailer for book 3, which is still called Man Bites World.
  • A selling synopsis for The Buried King.
  • Clean up chapters 2 and 3 of Game of Cages to post on the blog.
  • A write up of the next Kolchak episode.
  • A quick polish of an old project I can’t talk about.

And so on. I know there are a lot of writers who could do that in a couple of afternoons, but I’m slow slow slow. This will take me quite a little while to do, but I’m hoping to steal some time this weekend to cross some of these items off my list (and the Kolchak is pretty far down the list of priorities–Sorry to anyone who has been enjoying those).

On top of that, I’m expecting the copyedit for MBW at any time.

Back to the day job.

Kolchak, The Night Stalker: Ep 1 The Ripper

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So! Now we move to the first of the actual TV episodes. The rumor is that Darren McGavin enjoyed working in TV movies and only agreed to tie himself to a television show with the promise that he would also be executive producer. Then, on the first day of shooting, he found another executive producer on the set.

According to the story I heard, he felt betrayed and acted as the executive producer anyway. Essentially, the set had two bosses. Things became so contentious that at the end of the first season McGavin begged for the show to be cancelled.

Still, this was the first episode, aired 9/13/74. I wasn’t allowed to watch it, but I did end up seeing it later in syndication. Currently, all episodes of the TV show are available on streaming on Netflix. If you want to switch over to watch it (it’s about 50 minutes long) do so now, because I’m about to post some spoilers.

Really short plot synopsis: Jack the Ripper is loose in modern-day (circa 1974) Chicago, and only Kolchak recognizes him for the super-human killer that he is. Too bad for Our Hero that another reporter has been assigned to the story and he’s been relegated to a week of answering “Dear Emily” letters. Not that Kolchak would let that get in his way. Written by Rudolph Borchert, Directed by Allen Beron.

What happens in detail: Continue reading

Blow out those candles, quick!

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I want to wish Joss Whedon a happy birthd– Oh, damn, it was cancelled before I could finish.

Randomness for 6/15

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1) Tee hee.

2) All fame is fleeting. Best-selling books of decades past.

3) Somehow, I don’t think Syfy is taking their movie originals very seriously.

4) How to keep someone with you forever.

5) A friend made a documentary called THUNDER SOUL about a famous high school funk band from the 70’s
and their reunion tour. Listen to the band here.

6) Quote from article: “The findings do not directly link playing video games to reckless driving. They only show an association. Researchers say the impact of playing games like “Grand Theft Auto” is minimal.” Headline to the same article: “Study: Video Games Linked To Reckless Driving.”

7) The original Last Panel of Little Orphan Annie.

How not to be lonely.

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No, this isn’t actually a plan for avoiding loneliness.

As I mentioned before, my wife and son are in upstate NY for the rest of the month, dealing with the death of my m-i-l. That means I’m home alone for that time.

Normally, I’m a complete ass when it comes to productively using private time, especially when I have a lot of it. For these two-plus weeks, I have to be better. Therefore! I have made these resolutions:

1. No fancy cooking. I can’t be spending hours and hours prepping foods that I eat in 15 minutes. Sandwiches, salads, pastas, etc. Simple stuff.

2. Exercise every day. I have time for it, therefore I have no excuses.

3. Clean kitchen at the end of every day. No going to bed with dirty plates in the sink or crumbs on the table.

4. Spend half an hour each day cleaning the apartment. The kitchen doesn’t count toward this goal. Vacuuming doesn’t take long. Neither does a quick sweep/wipe down of the bathroom. Making bed: 15 seconds, tops. If I set aside this time and try to rush through it, it should be a huge burden or time sink.

5. All writing goals will be increased by 500 words a day. That doubles the quota for day-job days, and increases the day-off day quotas to 2K. I’d like to try for 3K, but that’s a lot of story for me. This isn’t listed fifth because it’s the fifth most important, but because it’ll be an easy goal to meet.

6. Only drink beer on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Moderation is the key.

7. Watch grown-up movies. Because of the boy’s screwed-up sleep schedule, the only time I have to watch movies for adults is the morning, and morning is writing time. As a result, I pretty much haven’t seen any R-rated movies for a couple of years. At this point, I don’t even care if they’re all that good, I just want to watch some. I may even go to (gasp!) a theater.

Of course, none of this works without:

8. Sensible amounts of internet time! Like many people, my time online expands to fill the amount of time I have. I can’t keep doing that. Therefore, I resolve to follow fewer links, join fewer discussions and let my email program chime to let me know new messages have come in, rather than check over and over.

Hmm. Maybe I should add: Write shorter blog posts.

edited to add: Oops! I forgot one: 9. Eat fruit and vegetables every day.

Brief notes, briefly

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My post analyzing THE NIGHT STRANGLER, the second of the Carl Kolchak tv movies and the lead-in to the series, doesn’t seem to have posted to my LiveJournal friends list. I wonder if it came up as backdated, which prevents it from appearing on the list. It’s on LJ right here. Warning, it’s a long post.

Also, the back cover copy for Game of Cages has appeared on Amazon.com. Here it is:

A SECRET HIGH-STAKES AUCTION

As a wealthy few gather to bid on a predator capable of destroying all life on earth, the sorcerers of the Twenty Palace Society mobilize to stop them. Caught up in the scramble is Ray Lilly, the lowest of the low in the society—an ex–car thief and the expendable assistant of a powerful sorcerer. Ray possesses exactly one spell to his name, along with a strong left hook. But when he arrives in the small town in the North Cascades where the bidding is to take place, the predator has escaped and the society’s most powerful enemies are desperate to recapture it. All Ray has to do is survive until help arrives. But it may already be too late.

I like that.

Also, I have to put up a complete first chapter for GoC soon, along with revamping my website a bit. I haven’t done it yet, because Life keeps getting in the way. Soon, though. Soon.