Too Many Hats
I hit a wall late this week. Actually, I literally feel like I hit a wall at high speed. There have been too many hats to wear and too many tasks to juggle. And there have been many diverse, personal responsibilities pulling at me. Almost two weeks ago, while under more than my usual levels of stress, I twisted my back. I’ve since been searching for that one position that doesn’t cause me screaming pain. That position seems to change on a whim. Worry not, I’ve been through this before. It just takes weeks to really heal. Thus, those who have contacted me this week via phone or e-mail and thought I was a trifle snarky. I was. Sorry about that. This affliction has not kept me from doing the work my hats demand. A Soldier’s Fate is in the hands of the proofreader for a final check. She’s very busy and popular, but she promises that she’ll get it back to us asap. Jon has the formatting done and the web page is ready to upload (there’s even a never seen excerpt on the page). It’s just a matter of days. I'll make a blog announcement the moment the links are live.
True Art
If you haven’t yet, you must pick up a copy of Sarah Feligh’s Sort of Gone. And if you don’t believe me, hear the amazing radio interview and commentary here. Sarah knows baseball and she sure knows her poetry. But somehow, the discussion of both in that interview is so down to earth and accessible, that anyone listening would be moved by it. I wish I could write poetry.
Right now, I need a Haiku that uses the words, cellphone and flame-thrower.
Month of Fun – Halfway Through
The fun continues even if I’m on the floor with my legs propped up. Minds out of the gutter, you naughty readers. The chocolate cake was a success. And that chocolate butter cream icing is so sinfully good, I’m thinking of marketing it in squeeze bottles to use as party favors (now, your minds can go to the gutter). We had a rare day off from the Archive last Monday. And between our plans falling through and my back, we happened to be home to watch some wonderfully dreadful daytime TV. Whenever I’m home on a weekday, I like to catch an episode of Hawaii 5-0. The last time was the pimp themed episode we watched during Thanksgiving. This time it was an early episode that we had never seen before. I hadn’t thought that was possible. It was a hoot, but I’ll say more about that when I do my TV rant below. We still haven’t seen any of the new releases. I’m hoping that will change next weekend when we have another three-day holiday. I’m also hoping to feel good enough to stand in front of a stove for as long as it takes to make that fish soup a la Anthony Bourdain.
Gunslinger Trailer Q and A
We’re getting waves and waves of hits and some lovely comments. I’ve also received some really good questions via the production company’s e-mail. I’ll summarize the questions and answer them. The most asked question was Is the scene in the trailer one that will be in the film? No. The dialogue in the dinner scene is from two different scenes. I stitched them together to explain what is behind the many misconceptions about Shadow Smith and what is at the heart of KD’s range war with Tom Kenner. That scene covers most of the main plot of the film. There will be a table-top love scene in the film that plays out much the same way as it does in the trailer. That love scene is the tamest of the feature. Matt doesn’t like that Shadow Smith novel, does he? No, he really doesn’t. It isn’t until KD actually reads him some of the story that he realizes how off the mark it is from his life. The novels have made being on the run very difficult. He is also flummoxed by their popularity. This was a reality in the Wild West. Dime novel versions of real life heroes and villains were very popular and caused some strange situations for the subjects of the fiction. We’ve speculated that if there is more than one film about Matt and KD that these stories will continue to bring them problems. Will we get to see Shadow in action? I’m assuming that means action other than the love scenes. Yes, the viewer will see Shadow in action. There are early scenes that clearly demonstrate that his reputation isn’t entirely fictional. He can be a very dangerous man. Viewers need to see that first to understand how complex he is later in the film. Keep those hits, comments and questions coming.
CSI: Miami – Better with Tivo
Warning: Spoilers and run on sentences below.
It’s clear that I need to record the show first and watch it with the ability to skip the dopier parts. Though in last week’s episode, that would have been most of the show. I nearly broke the remote trying to fast forward through the thing. Before anyone gets their knickers in a knot, it is always good to see Garett on TV. I know he’s happiest when he’s working, and I was tickled when I heard he’d be guesting. But even he wasn’t happy with what he saw. Apparently, he was color corrected in post to a shade of tanning salon orange (I thought it was the make-up) and he was aged (I thought it was the make-up). Those weren’t my only problems with this real bomb of an episode. There was their Anthony Pellicano character played by Tom Sizemore, who I thought was still in jail. No Private Eye or attorney can get a crime scene investigator pulled of a case while it’s ongoing. They may have something that could challenge the validity of the evidence at trail, but no civilian has that kind of sway with a department. Law enforcement would respond by yanking the guy’s PI license and perhaps jail him for obstruction. Have none of these writers ever seen an episode of Harry O? I don’t see why they even need
to collect evidsence. The 
department seems to have acquired the computer systems from Minority Report. Why waste time with gunshot residue or even DNA when they can just ask the Precogs who did it? The plot was so convoluted that it was hard to follow. The Hawaii 5-0 episode, King Kamehameha’s Blues that involved an elaborate caper complete with lowering a live cat from the roof onto a museum floor to see how sensitive the alarm was made more sense. No one explained why the college kids planned such an elaborate caper to steal King Kamehameha’s cloak, but it still made more sense than CSI: Miami’s plot of staging an accident which ended in a confrontation then faking a man’s voice in a 911 call that caused SWAT to bash in Garett’s character’s door and shoot him. The device the secretary of Garett’s evil partner used to fake a man’s voice looked just like the device Blofeld used to mimic Jimmy Dean’s (yep, the sausage guy) voice in Diamonds are Forever. I think that about covers it. One more episode to go. Then I can relax and focus on finding out who is the 5th Cylon.
Month of Fun – Halfway Through
The fun continues even if I’m on the floor with my legs propped up. Minds out of the gutter, you naughty readers. The chocolate cake was a success. And that chocolate butter cream icing is so sinfully good, I’m thinking of marketing it in squeeze bottles to use as party favors (now, your minds can go to the gutter). We had a rare day off from the Archive last Monday. And between our plans falling through and my back, we happened to be home to watch some wonderfully dreadful daytime TV. Whenever I’m home on a weekday, I like to catch an episode of Hawaii 5-0. The last time was the pimp themed episode we watched during Thanksgiving. This time it was an early episode that we had never seen before. I hadn’t thought that was possible. It was a hoot, but I’ll say more about that when I do my TV rant below. We still haven’t seen any of the new releases. I’m hoping that will change next weekend when we have another three-day holiday. I’m also hoping to feel good enough to stand in front of a stove for as long as it takes to make that fish soup a la Anthony Bourdain.
Gunslinger Trailer Q and A
We’re getting waves and waves of hits and some lovely comments. I’ve also received some really good questions via the production company’s e-mail. I’ll summarize the questions and answer them. The most asked question was Is the scene in the trailer one that will be in the film? No. The dialogue in the dinner scene is from two different scenes. I stitched them together to explain what is behind the many misconceptions about Shadow Smith and what is at the heart of KD’s range war with Tom Kenner. That scene covers most of the main plot of the film. There will be a table-top love scene in the film that plays out much the same way as it does in the trailer. That love scene is the tamest of the feature. Matt doesn’t like that Shadow Smith novel, does he? No, he really doesn’t. It isn’t until KD actually reads him some of the story that he realizes how off the mark it is from his life. The novels have made being on the run very difficult. He is also flummoxed by their popularity. This was a reality in the Wild West. Dime novel versions of real life heroes and villains were very popular and caused some strange situations for the subjects of the fiction. We’ve speculated that if there is more than one film about Matt and KD that these stories will continue to bring them problems. Will we get to see Shadow in action? I’m assuming that means action other than the love scenes. Yes, the viewer will see Shadow in action. There are early scenes that clearly demonstrate that his reputation isn’t entirely fictional. He can be a very dangerous man. Viewers need to see that first to understand how complex he is later in the film. Keep those hits, comments and questions coming.
CSI: Miami – Better with Tivo
Warning: Spoilers and run on sentences below.
It’s clear that I need to record the show first and watch it with the ability to skip the dopier parts. Though in last week’s episode, that would have been most of the show. I nearly broke the remote trying to fast forward through the thing. Before anyone gets their knickers in a knot, it is always good to see Garett on TV. I know he’s happiest when he’s working, and I was tickled when I heard he’d be guesting. But even he wasn’t happy with what he saw. Apparently, he was color corrected in post to a shade of tanning salon orange (I thought it was the make-up) and he was aged (I thought it was the make-up). Those weren’t my only problems with this real bomb of an episode. There was their Anthony Pellicano character played by Tom Sizemore, who I thought was still in jail. No Private Eye or attorney can get a crime scene investigator pulled of a case while it’s ongoing. They may have something that could challenge the validity of the evidence at trail, but no civilian has that kind of sway with a department. Law enforcement would respond by yanking the guy’s PI license and perhaps jail him for obstruction. Have none of these writers ever seen an episode of Harry O? I don’t see why they even need
to collect evidsence. The 
department seems to have acquired the computer systems from Minority Report. Why waste time with gunshot residue or even DNA when they can just ask the Precogs who did it? The plot was so convoluted that it was hard to follow. The Hawaii 5-0 episode, King Kamehameha’s Blues that involved an elaborate caper complete with lowering a live cat from the roof onto a museum floor to see how sensitive the alarm was made more sense. No one explained why the college kids planned such an elaborate caper to steal King Kamehameha’s cloak, but it still made more sense than CSI: Miami’s plot of staging an accident which ended in a confrontation then faking a man’s voice in a 911 call that caused SWAT to bash in Garett’s character’s door and shoot him. The device the secretary of Garett’s evil partner used to fake a man’s voice looked just like the device Blofeld used to mimic Jimmy Dean’s (yep, the sausage guy) voice in Diamonds are Forever. I think that about covers it. One more episode to go. Then I can relax and focus on finding out who is the 5th Cylon.
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