Month: June 2004

Target, Targete, Tarsomething

Writer guy

Recently, I chose Target as my shopping destination. It was a rush job, driven by a dire need. For each of the previous 12 days I’d promised to take one for the team and stock up on cat litter. That particular morning Buddhapuss threatened to leave me a present.

Not since the age of 7 had I braved Target during the middle of the day. Back then, when not clinging to my mother’s arm, I’d hide inside an empty stall in the women’s dressing room. Just for the record, I did vacate the stall when paged over the public address system.

Anyway, that habit was left behind at age 7. I changed, but Target has not; the place is still loaded with moms. Only now the moms are different because well…because they’re attractive.

Apparently it’s a requirement for moms shopping at Target to do Pilates, Tai Bo and elliptical.

Next time we need cat litter, I’ll be at Target at opening time. After all, when Buddhapuss has to go, the cat means business. It is for him that I suffer.

Dodgeball

Writer guy

While there were lots of comedies this year, very few have been much more than a long running play to make the audience laugh at all costs. Dodgeball is guilty as charged.

The premise; the owner of a second rate gym needs money to save his gym and his league of misfits from foreclosure. His competitor across the street door runs a gym that is everything Average Joe’s is not, clean, well equipped and solvent.

In their quest for cash, the members of Average Joe’s stumble upon the idea of playing Dodgeball in a tournament in Las Vegas. The prize as it happens is the exact amount needed to escape foreclosure.

Here’s what works about this movie

1) Characters. There’s a decent motley crew of misfits. Take special note of Rip Torn as their mentor/coach.

2) A real life on screen couple that works. I really believed that Christine Taylor found Ben Stiller’s character repugnant. Obviously they are married in real life.

3) Vince Vaughan. It took Vince a few years before he found his niche in Hollywood and it’s the type of role he plays in Dodgeball and Old School. Tall, slightly goofy with Chevy Chase styled delivery.

4) Premise. The premise is so ridiculous, it’s funny.

This comedy does the trick and it’s almost safe enough for the whole family. There’s a coda after the credits which some may find pushing the boundaries of taste, but by that point most of the audience are stuck in traffic.

What happened?

Writer guy

Tuesday feels far too much like Monday sometimes. Had a decent day at the PC, considering some factors beyond my control consumed the morning.

But other than answering the phone 2 dozen times ( not a single one was a telemarketer ) , waking up the cat one time to check his pulse ( he seemed too peaceful ) and writing, absolutely nothing happened. Wait there was one point were I thought my landlord might be having a heart attack in the basement. That turned out to be indigestion courtesy of the Big Arches.

The wife did promise to see the movie Dodgeball with me tonight. So there’s some exciting big dumb fun on the horizon.

Only 5 new pages today. Not bad, but must do better tomorrow. Based on my outline, 130-145 more pages to go…

*sigh*

Out on the river

Writer guy

Work on draft 6 of The Ridge Runner continues. Since starting work on May 10th I’ve revised, rewritten or written for the first time more than 225 pages. Using the Revision History feature in Open Office 1.1 makes it clear how much the book has changed in such a short time.

I’m not alone in the sudden decision to change the perspective. John Irving ( World According to Garp, Cider House Rules ) handed over in his manuscript for his latest book recently had a change of heart at the last minute. The publisher and editor had accepted the draft, which was in first person, but he decided that the story was best served as a third person kind of tale. Now he’s revising it from the top down in a mad rush to make the deadline.

Maybe there is something to just going with the gut even if it seems incredibly inconvenient. True, this is the same gut that was pretty sure first person was the one true path. Ah well, don’t want to question myself out of a good story now do I?