Since the students return on the 8th, I decided another three day weekend was in order. Jump time for more novel edits.
One thing I’ve always liked about writing is my influence over whether or not it happens. Of course, I have very little sway over what froths up to the screen, whether a passage works, or the aesthetics of my style. That — like stories — ultimately comes from someplace else. But the go/no go decision is mine, and that is worth a lot when the bombs of fate land at the doorstep.
Back in school, the first English class of the year usually opened with a “kids, what did you do this summer, please pretend you care about school now” assignment. While I rarely did anything interesting during break, and it’s been a lot of years since secondary school, with fall looming I feel like scratching out one for me.
Only there’s a small twist. My topic is what I learned this summer.
Ahem. This summer, I learned the following:
1) Take off as many days as possible.
2) Avoid road trips that involve Pennsylvania, and the Comfort Inn in Columbus, Ohio.
4) If a road trip means more than eight hours at the wheel, fly. For the love of God, fly!
5) GPS = good. We named ours Chloe. She might have saved the marriage.
6) Set a reasonable limit on summer time projects. Five proved a bit too ambitious.
Granted the above is a list, rather than a paragraph styled theme. But then I mentioned a twist.
On other fronts, I did the unthinkable last night. Swapped unpublished short stories with a writer. A thing I swore never to do, unless I joined a writing group, which would be shortly after drinking lunch from a gin bottle.
Anyway, the value of this exchange is what it revealed. For whatever reason, or twist of the universe, our styles are very similar. Not that my style is spectacular or unique, but I consider it mine, just as much as this writer considers his take on language the product of many years of writing and reading.
But damn if it wasn’t creepy at points. Reading a line, then thinking, exactly how I would have put that down. It’s almost like meeting a guy in a bar, cracking a few jokes, and discovering both of you are sleeping with the same girl. Either duke it out, or recognize that maybe there’s a reason two paths crossed.
I have my idea, anyway.
With moderately placed hopes, I saw this film hoping for something between average and good. Instead, I got disaster.
Historically, I like Michael Mann’s direction style, and in particular his most recent projects, including Collateral and Ali. I also count myself as a fan of the original television show, Miami Vice, which he directed. Considered it very much ahead of its time, while being a reflection of the Eighties cocaine and glossy neon and pastel era.
But this was…ahem…my exact words when the closing credits started, “What a fucking piece of crap.” I said this loud enough that The Wife scolded me because people stared at us. Hell, it was an R-movie. I’m not responsible for the twelve delinquents that told their parents they were seeing Barnyard. And besides, no one disagreed.
What works about this movie:
1) Concept. Revisiting the glory days of a great show with a new cast and crew was an idea with good intentions. Maybe in someone else’s hands, it could have been SWAT. I wanted to believe it might work.
2) It does end.
What needs improvement:
1) Cast. Colin Farrell – not a good fit for his character. Jamie Foxx, too talented for a project so weak.
2) Budget. Less money on hookers for Colin, more on cameras. 135 million dollars for something shot on a digital video camera that failed to keep up with the transition from well lit to poorly lit environments? Uh-huh, don’t think so, homey. Many scenes the picture was grainy. Not a little, either. I’m talking visible colored blobs of static, dancing around on X.
3) Story. Might have worked as a sixty minute television show. Had no business being stretched to 110 minutes.
4) Soundtrack. I would have preferred no music to these arrangements. Again, what works as background noise for a trailer, doesn’t hold up for a whole film.
Verdict: A disappointment. Change the channel when it comes to cable.
Cleared the halfway mark on the Team Eagle Eye edits. Since the last 75 pages need only a few days of work — mostly towards the very end of the story — a mid to late September finish is possible. I’ll avoid a hard and fast prediction, however. Suffice to say, I want to finish before the leaves turn amber.
Two weeks on bottom-up edits, then the manuscript heads off to a reader group for feedback and corrections. These three have proved that they can work very quickly on this and other projects, so I believe they will return it with alacrity.
No plans to work on the novel ever again beyond Halloween. From that point it’s agent shopping and new stories. The next main project may or may not turn into another novel. I’ll just let it run its course without worrying about what I want. Plus there’s a possible collaboration, but I must reach out to someone properly about that one. Between the two, I’ll keep sharpening the chops.
Back to work now…