Saturday, August 23, 2003
Yesterday I began Chapter Eight, which is titled "The White Road," and wrote 1,103 words. I've done a pretty fair job of keeping to my minimum of 1,071 words a day, and exceeding it whenever possible. As it stands, 8 down, 6 to go. I'd have written more yesterday, but it was a headache day and those always slow me down (though I refuse to let them shut me down).
Last night, Spooky and I watched the 2002 TV remake of Carrie. Actually, given it was a novel first, better I should say the 2002 adaptation of Carrie. Anyway, we rented it for the superb Angela Bettis, who wowed us last weekend in May. All in all, the film was more or less what one would expect from a made-for-TV adaptation of a King novel. I was especially annoyed at the lack of profanity and the often bizarre ways that the director and screenwriter chose to make up for that lack. In the hog-killing scene, for example, Billy Nolan (forgettably portrayed by some wormy-looking guy named Jesse Cadotte) actually tells his uber-bitch/skank girlfriend to "Shut her pie hole." There were constant pauses, followed by strange repeats of the tag-ends of earlier scenes, marking the spots where commercials were meant to be inserted (this could have been edited out for the DVD). Worst of all, though, is the open ending, with Carrie escaping to Florida (?!?), which, I assume was the groundwork for some idiot's planned and never-(thankfully)-realized weekly series, aka UPN's unwatchable The Dead Zone and the Sci-Fi Channel's laughable Firestarter. But the film did have it's moments, to be sure, and for any fan of the novel and the 1976 Brian De Palma adaptation, it's worth the renting. Angela Bettis is a dream, giving a slightly different, but equally plausible interpretation of Carrie White. (Were she only a few years younger, I think Angela Bettis would be my pick for Dancy Flammarion.) I was glad to see the Fortean rain of stones included, and especially pleased with the film's climax, as we're actually shown the extent of Carrie's rampage, as she levels not only the high school gymnasium, but the entire town, as in King's novel. The CGI effects were handled well and never looked like CGI effects. So I give it a couple of stars.
I had in mind writing something today about passion, and how the writer cannot function as an artist in its absence, how passion is, above all else, necessary for this thing I do. Even though I may loathe the act itself, I must bring to it passion, or I'm only typing. Something like that. But then I went on and on about Carrie, so I'll have to save that for another time. Passion, like Obesession, is a Virtue.
I had a conversation with Bill Schafer yesterday evening and it has been decided that my next project for Subterranean Press, after their edition of Low Red Moon, will be a "short novel," which I will write in November, after I've finished Murder of Angels and before I begin the next novel. Details TBA.
And don't forget, please buy my dren. A copy of Wrong Things, signed my me and Poppy, has been added, and there's only one unbid-upon size L "Salammbô" t-shirt remaining. Also, in the next day or two we'll be adding a couple of unusual (or at least peculiar) items, including (with his blessings) Neil Gaiman's NeCon 2000 con badge, upon which he wrote his own little name. So, buy stuff. It's the patriotic thing to do.
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