Quantum Storytelling

The wife and I carved our pumpkins yesterday. Mine is the goofy one on the right. It was fun, and I haven’t done it for over fifteen years. What a cheap form of entertainment! I think we bought our pumpkins for $3.00 each, and spent over an hour carving, scraping, and carving some more. Halloween has become a spooky holiday for me, but it has nothing to do with ghouls and ghosts.

Halloween now signifies the night before National Novel Writing Month. My anticipation is peaking. Being my 2nd year, this makes a healthy tradition. Just like last year, my outline isn’t as solid as I’d like, but unlike last year I have a lot clearer idea of what I’m doing this time. Let’s hope this first draft only sucks half as bad as the one I did last year! While the kiddies are getting treats, I’ll be doing some last minute efforts to prepare my trick of 50K words in 30 days.

Are you getting scared yet?

Saw both of them this weekend and they were interesting enough that I thought I’d comment.

The Last Kiss

Great characterizations. All of the characters seemed genuine and real to me. Blythe Danner was exceptionally good, playing the emotional wreck of an aging, unhappy mother. I’m not sure if she was drawing on some of her own experiences to convey her, at times, irrational outbursts, but I bought it. The father in-law character to Zach Braff was also well done, by actor Tom Wilkinson. He nailed the all-too-logical father figure that never expresses his emotions.

Every scene was filled with conflict. Writers take note. I don’t think there was a dull scene among them… barely even any ‘breathing room.’ Great stuff.

Black Dahlia

I haven’t read any of Elroy’s novels although I have read Hammett and Chandler, and know that Elroy is very much a 2nd/3rd generation student of the hard-boiled detective genre.

I liked this one a lot, but then I’m a sucker for 1940s settings. I know in all honesty that I’m one of the few, at least in my generation. The theater was filled with an audience primarily in their fifties and sixties. I felt a little out of place. I was also a little sad to not see more of my ‘gaming generation.’ But alas, period games like Mafia haven’t done too well either. It seems an affinity for the 1940s setting is a very pet sentiment, subject to very individual tastes. So be it… and on to the story.

The story was classic boilerplate detective, somewhat enhanced by the fact the Black Dahlia murder was a real case. The hero gets involved trying to protect and help the age old prostitute-with-a-heart-of-gold character, as well as getting mixed up with some rich folks who have many secrets to hide. Reminded me a lot of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, and in a few spots Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest.

It was filled with action, violence, and plenty of tension… all the makings of good ‘pulp.’ If you’re into that sort of thing you might want to check it out. I’m sure it’ll be leaving theaters soon as it’s a box office flop so far. I chalk that up to the setting, mostly… and that there is almost nobody of the youngin’ mainstream crowd that would have any casual associations or knowledge with the Black Dahlia case or James Ellroy. How unfortunate, but… so it goes.

If you liked L.A. Confidential you will probably like The Black Dahlia.

Yesterday I turned 29. The festivities were kept light. Spent most of the day at home, relaxing–my idea of the perfect birthday. I blazed through Building Better Plots, and have tossed that one in the Books On Writing section.

Most of my birthday spoils were tech or geek related. The parents sent a couple USB flashdrive keychains, atomic clock, etc. The wife got me a couple pop science nerd books I wanted:

One more year til 30. Hmm. Let’s hope I have my novel published by then.