Moe Lane's Blog, page 150
November 11, 2024
Two days left on the DRACULA DOSSIER Bundle of Holding.
It’s good stuff. I have all of the DRACULA DOSSIER – running Dracula-themed games in Ken Hite’s vampire-and-spies NIGHT’S BLACK AGENTS – stuff in print form already, so I’ve no need to pick it up. You should, though.
Trying again to sell books at an SCA event this weekend.
I don’t actually expect much out of it. Still, we’re doing this particular event mostly to get out of the house, and unload some of the SCA-related mathoms that every reenactor accumulates like pocket lint. Also, lunch promises to be highly tasty, and… again, it’s nice to get out of the house. Particularly when you have a reason for it. I’m out of practice for just hanging out.
#commissionearned
11/11/2024 NotAWriMo, BANSHEE BEACH: 678/57107
I am, yes, very far behind now. But we’re back to it!
Patreon!Lucas took another bite from his tlayuda, and frowned. “If I didn’t know better,” he commented, “I’d swear this was grasshopper meat.”
“That a problem?” I looked down at my plate. “I probably won’t finish all this turkey.”
“Oh, it is grasshopper? Never mind, then.” Lucas chewed, a reflective look on his face. “I was just surprised, that’s all. The last time I had grasshopper, it was tough as hell. We had to boil them for an hour just to get the exoskeletons off. Nasty bastards, too.”
I stared at him. “What? Were these, like, giant grasshoppers or something?”
“No, these were runts. Only, I dunno, two feet long?” Lucas took a swig of his wine, made a pleased face at the taste. “I’m surprised you guys farm them. They’re mean, and runs in packs of twenty or more.”
“Yeah. Those are the giant grasshoppers. Ours are thumbed-sized.”
“Wow.” Lucas smirked at me. “You must have to make the fences really small, then.”
Behold! The “Fresh from Room 101” YOUNG WERTHER trailer.
When I saw they had made a romantic comedy called YOUNG WERTHER, I naturally laughed. Why wouldn’t I? It was such an entertaining accident.
After all, THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER is a classic German novel by Goethe about obsession, unrequited love, and how you can usefully resolve those problems in your life with a handy suicide. It is primarily remembered today as one of the books Mary Shelley name-dropped in her own novel FRANKENSTEIN (which is about obsession, Forbidden Knowledge, and how you can usefully resolve those problems in your life with a handy one-way trip to the Arctic Circle) as one of the novels the Monster read to learn about humanity. In short: you could find a book less suited to be turned into a romantic comedy, but it would require you to pack a lunch. There was no way this title was anything except a coincidence, in other words.
And yet, here we are.
Lionsgate has shared the Young Werther trailer for the upcoming romantic comedy, starring Douglas Booth (My Salinger Year) as the titular writer and Alison Pill as Charlotte (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). The film is based on the 1774 tragic romance novel The Sorrows of Young Wether by Johann Wolfgang Goethe.
I’m just going to assume that this was deliberate. This is either a practical joke that got out of hand, or it really does end with Werther shooting himself in the head, and taking half a day to die. If the latter is the case, then I will give props to the director for really committing to the bit.
If it’s the former? Well, you almost have to respect the production company’s ruthlessness. Torturing a book like this with fire and the lash until it screams and breaks is a bit beyond my scruples, and I’ve written novels.
‘Tommy.’
I vaguely remember somebody getting upset about me doing this, but I’m damned if I can recall why. Happy Veterans Day.
November 10, 2024
‘Yellow Submarine.’
Yellow Submarine, The Beatles
#commissionearned
Hopefully, this week will go back to normal.
For given values of ‘normal.’ Everybody’s better or getting better, I don’t think I need to watch any more beach movies, and I plan to go get some sleep Real Soon Now. Hopefully that’ll get me nice and fresh for the morning’s writing.
Geez, what a week that was.
The cobbled-together CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD trailer.
I’ve never seen a Marvel movie presented less like a Marvel movie than CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Also the CGI looks… I dunno. Maybe it’s fine and I’m just old.
And maybe it’s not fine. …Alas, that doesn’t mean that I get to not be old anymore. That hardly seems fair.
Moe Lane
That being said: Red Hulk doesn’t look too bad.
I am coming to the conclusion…
…that many of these beach movies do not hold up well. It’s not just the out-of-date cultural referents. It’s how the culture itself sounds different, pre-Beatles. On the bright side, I haven’t seen anything that should make me do things much differently for BANSHEE BEACH. My existing rough impressions of the genre are actually fine.
I should watch JAWS again, though.
#commissionearned
