SHE'LL SING A WEST-SIDE SONG, YOU COULD BE THE BOY IN THE FILM

I have about 25,000 words now of Have You Seen The Horizon Lately? Around 12,000 are of the beginning of the book, and the rest is of the history of one of the main characters. I stopped writing the initial narrative to spend some time to get to know the characters better. As I've been writing Percy's story in a way that is intended to be included in the actual text, I have also been doing Julia's story as handwritten notes in my moleskin notebook.

Nope, no writer's block here. Of course, we all know I think writer's block is a big lie anyway (as this old post of mine contends; interestingly, Neil Kleid speaks with two other writers on the very subject this week, too). So, it's a little ironic--especially considering the subject matter--that when I watched Fellini's 8 1/2 last month that I would be inspired to do my October video picks for Trilogy as a collection of films devoted to the romanticizing of this bullshit condition:

* 8 1/2, starring Marcello Mastroianni, writer/dir. Fellini

* Barton Fink, starring John Turturro, writer/dir. The Coen Bros.

* Paris When It Sizzles, starring Audrey Hepburn & William Holden, screenplay by George Axelrod

* Wonder Boys, starring Michael Douglas, written by Michael Chabon, dir. Curtis Hanson

* 2046, starring Tony Leung, Gong Li, Faye Wong, & Zhang Ziyi; writer/dir. Wong Kar-Wai

An alternate choice was Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze's Adaptation. And if you want to celebrate a writer getting things done, I can't recommend the Danish film Reconstruction highly enough. In it, a cuckolded author takes over his wife's affair, the words he writes on the page playfully changing the course of the movie.

And speaking of blocks, does this new Madonna album cover...

...remind anyone else a little of Kylie, who used to be considered a second-rate Madonna, but who seems more on top of her game than Madge these days? Points for the title, though.

Don't Forget: Stumptown tomorrow.

Current Soundtrack: The Cardigans, "I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need to Be Nicer;" Depeche Mode, a shuffle of remixes on my iTunes

Current Mood: satisfied

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2005 Jamie S. Rich