Moe Lane's Blog, page 601
March 6, 2022
‘Once in a Lifetime.’
Once in a Lifetime, Talking Heads
#commissionearned
03/06/2022 Snippet, THE DECALOGUE KILLER.
The old story wasn’t working. This one is.
Patreon!Thursday, 3 AM. The city quiets down, this time of night. Oh, it never wants to, like a child who keeps yawning for five minutes more; but when it just can’t stay awake any longer, it collects itself and settles in for a few hours of fitful street, before rising in dawn’s early light. Maybe the eyes are more red than bright, and the tail’s still ragged in places, but this city needs all the beauty sleep it can get. So when it sleeps, it sleeps deep.
The guy in the alley in front of me was sleeping deep, too. The kind no alarm clock can shift. I wasn’t immediately sure about the cause of death, although I figured the pool of blood underneath him was a clue. It was for sure the cops weren’t treating this as somebody accidentally falling onto a wall.
One of those cops detached herself from the crime scene and strode her way over to where I was standing and scribbling notes. “Oh, it’s you, Joe,” she said. “I don’t suppose you wanna confess now, save us all some time?”
“And a good morning to you too, Sergeant Meyer.” I peered past her, trying to scribble details about the crime scene before this turned into a for-real shoo-off. She nicely gave me a whole thirty seconds before her foot started tapping. “All right, all right. You know how it is. I gotta get it down in my head, make sure it’s fresh. Right.” I looked at her. “So, you’re who I’m interviewing?”
Tweet of the Day, I’m Sorry… edition.
…except that I’m not.
"Couldn't we have stolen cars, instead?"
— Ogiel (Moe Lane) (@Ogiel23) March 7, 2022
Said squicked-out thieves in Denver 'bout those heads…" https://t.co/DMn36ysJkV
THE BATMAN opens to $128.5 million.
Which is pretty good, considering how many people reviewed-kvetched about THE BATMAN: “In another clear sign that moviegoing is alive and well despite ceasing during the pandemic, Warner Bros.’ The Batman is delivering the second-best opening since 2019. That’s after Spider-Man: No Way Home with $128.5M after a $43.2M Saturday, which was -24% against the pic’s opening Friday+previews. Around the globe, Batman made $248.5M. There’s a very good chance by tomorrow AM that Batman could rise beyond $130M.”
I, alas, haven’t seen it yet. I was going to, but last-minute family scheduling got in the way. But I figure I can hold out until the next weekend. Besides, it’s a Batman movie. I’m pretty sure I know how this flick is going to go.
Patreon Microfiction: Fear, After All.
Hrm. I forgot about ‘Fear, After All.’ The premise ain’t half bad. And ‘Decalogue Killer’ has a certain ring to it.
Patreon!
March 5, 2022
03/05/22 Snippet, THE COLONY.
I only got a limited amount of work done. Haircuts for the kids, putting away boxes, doing the baronial newsletter, the W key on my keyboard decided to kind of stop working… it’s been a bit of a hassle. But the hair is cut, the boxes are stashed, the newsletter published, and the new keyboard will be here tomorrow. We abode.
Patreon!“So, where are you from?” Martin asked me over dinner that night. “Canada?”
“Close,” I lied. “My parents were from New Brunswick, and we lived in the countryside when I was a child. What gave it away?”
“Mostly just the way you talk and sit.” A look of concern blossomed across his face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything bad. You just have the faintest accent. Or dialect? I guess it would be dialect…” he trailed off, then looked down at his dish as if it should have been coming to his defense. “I’m sorry. I’m bad at talking to people.”
“That’s all right, Martin.” I cut at my steak. “So am I.”
Charlie Cox decides to be in favor of Disney-Marvel giving him lots of money for DAREDEVIL.
I know, I know. You’re shocked, too: “When Netflix’s Daredevil series premiered in 2015, it presented a much darker and more grounded version of the character. In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, actor Charlie Cox said he doesn’t think a new series would have to retain that same mature tone.” …Which is good, because if he wants to star in a hypothetical Daredevil show that’s on Disney+ and not Hulu… well, there are gonna be expectations.
I’m not actually upset about this. I have adolescent kids now, you know? I’m reasonably certain that when I turn on Disney+ to watch some MCU stuff with the kids there won’t be anything too embarrassing on*. I kind of treasure the certainty, really.
Moe Lane
*And if they want something less tame, they can learn to sneak downstairs in the middle of the night, just like I did at their age. Only with an infinitely better selection of stuff to watch. These kids today! They just don’t know how good they got it…
The ‘This Should Be Convoluted’ I AM LEGEND Sequel.
‘Convoluted’ because there’s one small problem.
Warner Bros. is moving forward with a sequel to the 2017 post-apocalyptic zombie movie I Am Legend. it’s also been announced that Will Smith will return to the franchise and he will be joined by Michael B. Jordan. This is the first film that the two talents will work on with each other. They will star in and produce the sequel.
…which is that I AM LEGEND‘s original ending was stupid. Let me correct that, actually. I AM LEGEND‘s original theatrical ending was stupid. [SPOILERS], in case you don’t know it…
…they spent the entire movie hinting at the idea that the vampires in the movie were a hell of a lot more intelligent than Robert Neville (Smith’s character) thought they were, and that they maybe had a point about hunting him right back. But apparently the test audience had dropped some really primo acid before watching the film, because they complained that the flick ended peacefully. So they recut a new ending where Neville blew himself and the vampires up. Which was, again, stupid.
So, Will. Mike. Bubbelehs. Love both of your work. I mean it. But can we just pretend that you released the original ending, and do the sequel based on that? I’m begging you, here. I am absolutely begging.
#commissionearned
Book of the Week: TINSEL RAIN (Now would be an awesome time to back the Kickstarter, btw).
I’m using this as an excuse to talk about the future publication schedule of TINSEL RAIN. The short version is, the Kickstarter is going well enough that I might be able to pay the editor early. I’ve already paid for the cover art, which means that the remaining expenses besides the editing are an updated map, book layout, and a tip for the cover artist. Oh, and the physical books for signing and distribution. Can’t forget those.
All of which means that maybe I can have physical copies of TINSEL RAIN in time for Balticon. Assuming that I can get a table for it, which is still kind of up in the air. But being able to get the book out by Memorial Day weekend isn’t too shabby. It’s going to depend on the editor’s schedule (she should give me some idea on that in the next few days), the vagaries of Amazon’s publishing schedule — and how much money I’ll have on hand to avoid having to wait for my natural money pools to replenish. Put another way: tell all your friends about TINSEL RAIN! :bright smile:
