The Incredibles

A trailer is up for Pixar's new movie, The Incredibles and it looks good. It seems to be a humorous film about a group of superheroes. I immediately recognized Samuel Jackson's voice as "Frozone." This looks really good.

Monsters in movie court

The Washington Post has an odd little article called Monster Films: Bringing Out the Beast in Us. (Unfortunately, you'll probably have to register to see it.) It's set up as Movie Court, with the prosecution, Ann Hornaday, arguing that with all the horrible images of brutality and torture we see on the news every day, there's no need for monster movies to cater to our darker side.
For the defense, Stephen Hunter makes the argument that monster films appeal to the child in more imaginative people, like himself.
I still like it when things get blown up, squished, smashed, mashed, creamed, fragmentized, atomized, liquefied, pureed and mulched. For destruction I hold with those who favor the carnivore, but the alien is also nice and would suffice.
While I'm not sure his argument entirely answers Hornaday, I certainly agree with what he's saying.
When the screechy mandibular chompers of "Them," with their hunger for sugar and human flesh, come out to play, or when the Giant Squid the size of the USS Forrestal squashes the Golden Gate to a sodden swizzle stick, it's a hoot. See, that's one of the most profound joys of the movies -- the subversive pleasure of seeing what society tells us is bad and wondering: Gee, why does it make me feel so good?
I'm going to start looking at Hunter's reviews more often. (And I'm going to ignore Hornaday, who doesn't seem to get horror at all.)

Auction for Charles Grant with lots of cool stuff

Following orders from Nick Mamatas and my own belief that it's a good cause, here's the press release for a Horror Writers Association auction to benefit Charles Grant:

***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 13, 2004

Contact Information:
Horror Writers Association
Nicholas Kaufmann,
Trustee
(718) 855-0970
nkaufmann@nyc.rr.com
www.horror.org



AUTHORS RALLY TO HELP ONE OF THEIR OWN

The Horror Writers Association holds auction
to benefit stricken author


NEW YORK, MAY 13. The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is holding a benefit auction for legendary author and editor Charles L. Grant, who has been hospitalized indefinitely with severe cardio-pulmonary disease and emphysema. Mr. Grant, whose body of work spans five decades, faces a tremendous burden on his health and substantial health-related expenses.

In response to this dire situation, the HWA called for contributions to a benefit auction for Mr. Grant. Although HWA is not a charitable organization and contributions could not be considered charitable donations, this didn’t stop a flood of concerned writers, editors and publishers from contributing to this cause.

Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, Clive Barker and nearly fifty other accomplished authors have confirmed contributions to the event. Publishers such as Leisure Books, Earthling Publications and Night Shade Books have also contributed.

“The response has been amazing,” said Joe Nassise, president of the Horror Writers Association. “The absolute generosity of everyone involved has been truly overwhelming.”

This two-part fundraiser, being held in conjunction with the HWA’s annual Bram Stoker Awards Banquet weekend, is the first of its kind for the organization. One component of the fundraiser is a high-profile auction to be held on eBay beginning May 23 and running until June 5, the evening of the awards. Bidders can find all auction items by searching the eBay User ID “bookwyrm55.”

The second component is a silent auction to be held on June 4-6 at the HWA annual meeting in New York City where the Bram Stoker Awards will be presented.

THE HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION (HWA) is a worldwide organization of writers and publishing professionals dedicated to promoting dark literature and the interests of those who write it. HWA was formed in the late 1980's with the help of many of the field's greats, including Dean Koontz, Robert McCammon, and Joe Lansdale. Today, with over 1,000 members around the globe, it is the oldest and most respected professional organization devoted to the genre.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Nicholas Kaufmann at nkaufmann@nyc.rr.com

***

And if you can't do the auction, you could still donate to help Grant at this Web site.

You must read this

"The Voluntary State" is one of the best science fiction stories I've read in a long time. The author, Christopher Rowe has an interview here and a bibliography here and a blog here. You can also discuss the story here.
It's just more proof of how good Sci Fiction is. At least the SciFi Channel will be able to say it's done one good thing during its existence.
It's also proof of how great reading all these blogs is. I've seen this story mentioned in a whole bunch of places, all of them ecstatic for the story. It intrigued me enough to seek it out. I'm glad I did.

Godzilla stomps box office

Do you know what was the biggest box office hit, per screen, this past weekend? That's right Godzilla, the uncut Japanese film playing in two theaters, in New York and San Francisco. It earned $38,030. Per screen, that beats out Van Helsing and the other tripe out in the multiplexes. Now, hopefully it gets a wider release.

Snakehead fish update

A snakehead fish has been found in Northern Virginia. It's only a matter of time now, they'll be taking over the whole eastern seaboard, and of course, crawling underfoot looking for new prey.

Giant monster movie news

A few months back, you might remember I linked to a trailer for Dragon Wars, or D-Wars as it seems to be called in some places. Well, there's more scenes from the movie up at this site. The monsters are still looking pretty impressive. The scenes show the dragons, giant snakes and armed dinosaurs stomping through the streets of a modern city (including blowing up a building with an AT&T sign prominently shown, gotta pay for it somehow). This is exciting stuff, although I'm still worried the story and acting will be as bad as "Reptilian," the totally awful first film from this company.
***
And in other giant monster movie news, I was reading a rumor that John Sayles would be writing the screenplay for Jurassic Park IV, but I can't find anything to confirm that. In fact, most sites say William Monahan, a new writer, is writing the script. Also rumored to be part of the film is Keira Knightley.
Sayles is working on a political satire, however, that will star Chris Cooper and be out before the 2004 presidential elections.

New Nintendo stuff

Apparently, Nintendo is planning some big changes, most importantly a new GameBoy that includes wifi. There's also a new Zelda game coming and some other goodies, plus hints about a new home system to replace the GameCube. Video games have been losing my interest over the last year or so, but this still sounds pretty neat.
(Thanks to Charles for the link.)

Remembering William Burroughs

Marianne Faithfull talks about William Burroughs and her connections with him. Apparently, she is starring in a new production of The Black Rider, which was written by a collaboration of Burroughs, Tom Waits and Robert Wilson. I think the album is great (and I think that review is totally wrong, though the review of the song Briar and the Rose is better), and it's great to hear Burroughs sing "'Taint no Sin":
"'Taint no sin to take of your skin and dance around in your bones." I didn't know that it was Burroughs' last work.
(Link found at Bookslut.)

New magazines

So Wildside Press will be publishing three new magazines this year. The first, H.P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror, is already out and I have to get a copy. At the very least, it's got a Ramsey Campbell interview, so I know there's something I'll enjoy. The other two magazines are Adventure Tales and Underworlds. Adventure Tales appears to be a reprint magazine, bringing work of pulp authors back into print. It'll be interesting to see what selections they make. Underworlds is "the unique magazine of noir-influenced suspense, crime, and supernatural fiction."

The horror, the horror

Richard Kelly seems to be in the news a lot these days. The director of "Donnie Darko" is teaming up with Eli Roth, the director of "Cabin Fever" to write a movie based on a Richard Matheson story called "The
Box."
Also, director Lucy Mckee will be releasing his new movie "The Woods" on Oct. 1. McKee directed a great low budget horror movie, "May."
With all these guys working, I think things are looking up for horror in the movies.

More about reviewers

At the DarkEcho blog, Paula Guran says:
Okay, so I am glancing through my new issue of LOCUS (#520) and I come across a favorable review of a book that does not even deserve ink in the magazine. Am I the only reviewer in the world who wants to pick up other reviewers by their (no doubt ass-like) ears and shake sense into them?
She goes on to wonder if reviews (and Guran writes reviews for Cemetery Dance magazine) really matter, which brings us back to Ed Gorman's point.

Reviewers, what are they good for?

Over at Ed's Place, author Ed Gorman says:
"Variety pointed out that this year five different movies that have been scourged by critics not only opened at numero uno but even had legs. This weekend's 'Van Helsing' is the latest example. I probably read eight or nine reviews of it. None had even one good thing to say about it.
"I'm pretty sure publishing operates this way. A number of bestselling writers are consistently trashed by reviewers but it hasn't damaged their careers. That's why I'm usually reluctant to show prospective editors my good reviews. How nice, they say, being polite. But they know and so do I that reviews generally don't sell books. It's like saying to the editor, My Mom thinks I'm really swell."
It is interesting, no? I know more than a few people who say they look at reviews and whichever movies are given bad reviews, they go out and see them.
I, on the other hand, like reviews. But I rarely like just one. I want to read a whole bunch of reviews to get a sense of what the movie is like and what reviewers have problems with. This is why Rotten Tomatoes is brilliant. In one burst, I can see a whole lot of reviews. And looking at Van Helsing, I can pretty much say it's not going to be very good.
But this isn't always true. Take Deep Rising, an earlier Stephen Sommers film. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 26% rating, just 2 points over Van Helsing. All right, admittedly it's kind of stupid and is all about giant monsters and explosions. But it doesn't sell itself as anything else. In fact, it gives you some characters and humor to boot.
And horror movies, I almost never trust reviewers on gory horror movies. They seem to get so blinded by blood and guts that they can't comprehend the rest of the movie.
So what do you do? I'm not sure. I usually only go to the theaters to see movies I'm sure about it. When I'm renting movies though, I'll pull out anything that vaguely interests me and give it a try. This means I miss a few good films in theaters and I suffer through a lot of bad ones at home (although at home I can turn it off without losing $10.)
In the book world, things are a bit different. I only use reviewers to tell me about books I know nothing about. Otherwise, I stick with authors I know, classic books or books recommended by authors I love.
So, use my new comment feature, tell me how you use (or don't use) reviewers.

Donnie Darko: Revised

Richard Kelly says Donnie Darko will be dramatically revised for its re-release to movie theaters.

"Ultimately, for me, I'm just psyched I finally got to finish the film," he said. "While I'm proud of the theatrical cut, I feel like there were some elements that were never fully realized that I'm excited to be able to realize now. It's been a dream come true, and I'm really lucky to have gotten to do it."

I'm really mixed about this. There's no doubt that "Donnie Darko" is a flawed movie. Unless you start looking at a lot of the supplemental material, there's no way you'll understand all the manipulated dead and chest spears things that are referenced in the film. But that's also part of the charm, things are left a mystery and the film becomes personal to you.
Not to mention I'm mixed on the whole idea of going back and revising your movie (or whatever artwork you've created) after it's been in the public eye.
"Star Wars" is always the thing that comes to mind for me. George Lucas went back and changed all the special effects and made a few other changes. It has always upset me that Greedo fired first in the new version. And some of the Jabba part is a little silly. On the other hand, I did like the new special effects and most of the other additions were either helpful or not a problem.
And we've all come to expect director's cuts, right?
So maybe I'm just worried over nothing. And, anyway, I've got my copy of "Donnie Darko" on DVD anyway, in case I don't like the new version. (Unlike Star Wars, which will most likely never be released on DVD in its original version.)

Look, I can use pictures now! 

Change is here to stay

OK changes have been made succesfully. Now everyone can post comments and they will forever be attached to my entries. The template has changed. There's a few more futuristic, bubble type designs available, but I like this more subdued look. Do you agree? Leave a comment! I've updated a few links but have yet to add any more. All right, now with luck I can get back to more regular posting.

Peter Crowther interview

S1ngularity publishes a new interview with Peter Crowther. Crowther is a horror writer, a publisher of fine science fiction, fantasy and horror novellas and is now becoming a magazine editor. He's one of the most important people in the speculative fiction field right now, so the interview is well worth your while.

Nick Mamatas interview

Beatrice does 5 Questions With Nick Mamatas. Nick has a LiveJournal here and here's a listing for his novel, "Move Under Ground."

New stuff, when it works

Aargh. Blogger has added all kinds of new elements, most importantly permalinks and a commenting system. Well, I've managed to get the permalinks working, but the comments defy me at every turn. In the meantime, all the old comments have been deleted. Sorry. Once I get the new comments system working, they'll be attached to the permalinks so your writings will never again (theoretically) be lost in the great Web void. If anyone else with a Blogger site has had problems with comments, let me know and tell me how you got through it.

Going to a Monster Show

In San Francisco, the Shooting Gallery will be hosting "The Tokyo Monster Show 2004."

The Shooting Gallery is excited to pay tribute to Godzilla and his friends with “The Tokyo Monster Show”. Over 30 artists will take part in this homage to Japanese monster movies. Paintings, photography, sculpture and drawings will all be on display for everyone to enjoy. Never has there been such a gathering of creatures since “Monster Island”, when Godzilla proved he was The King of All Monsters

The site has a few examples of the giant monster paintings. They're very good.