Christa Faust's Blog, page 8

Photo Bounty

Listen up, Faustketeers. I'm sure you're all aware of my new photo blog L.A. Fatale. It's kinda silly, just a fun little side bet. Me snapping photos of pretty much anything around the neighborhood that catches my eye. Things that strike me as distinctly, often uniquely Los Angeles in flavor.

I spotted something a few days ago that I would have loved to capture, but it was on a moving vehicle and I was driving at the time. I didn't think my silly little blog was worth crashing and or getting some kind of outrageous ticket.



Stickers of Calvin pissing on things never fail to make me smile. He pisses on various car companies, on the IRS, on people's exes. I've seen him pissing on the evolution jesus-fish-with-legs and pissing on a crucifix. But a fairly common L.A. variant (probably common through out the South Western US) is Calvin pissing on "La Migra," Mexican slang for immigration related law enforcement agencies. I spotted one the other day, but couldn't capture it for posterity. And now that I'm actively trying to find it, no dice. Which fucking figures.

Anyway, that's where you come in. Now of course, I could just google around and steal someone else's photo, but I don't want to do that and I don't want you to do that either. Post your own photo of Calvin pissing on La Migra (or a link to your photo) in the comment section. Photo must be taken by you and must be taken in Los Angeles. I'd prefer a shot that shows the vehicle the sticker is on but will take what I can get. The lucky winner will get... well nothing really, but your photo will get posted on my blog, with your name and a link to your own blog and/or website.

Happy hunting!

Auction Update

Yesterday I decided it would be a nice idea to put one of my CHOKE HOLD ARCs up for auction to raise money to help fighters and other athletes suffering from post-concussive syndrome. I'm absolutely blown away by the fantastic response.

When I originally set this auction up, I thought it was highly unlikely that I'd get more than 100 bucks. I figured I'd better match whatever the total would be so that my donation wouldn't seem too meager. Well, the price is already over $250 and there are still 5 days of bidding left. Unfortunately, I'm not in a financial position to match the final price if it gets much higher than it is right now, but I did promise to add to the donation from my own pocket. So my new, revised pledge is that I will add $200 of my own money to the final price.

Thanks for exceeding my expectations and for reposting, retweeting and otherwise helping to spread the word. This is an issue that means a lot to me and I'm glad to see so many people willing to dig deep and back me up on this. Keep it up and those bids coming!

Choke Hold Charity Auction

Wanna be the first on your block to read CHOKE HOLD, the new Angel Dare book forthcoming in October from Hard Case Crime? Well now's your chance. I'm auctioning off one single Advanced Reading Copy, which I will sign and personalize any way you like. Once this one is sold, the rest of you will have to wait till October.

If you win the auction, not only do you get first crack at the new book, but you get to feel good about shelling out your hard earned cash. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Sports Legacy Institute, formed to advance the study, treatment and prevention of the effects of brain trauma in athletes and other at-risk groups.

This groundbreaking organization was co-founded by former pro-wrestler Chris "Harvard" Nowinski, who is himself suffering from post-concussive syndrome and to whom this book is dedicated. CHOKE HOLD features a character who also suffers from this disorder and Nowinski's book HEAD GAMES as well as his own personal story and struggle were an inspiration to me when I first started imagining what the new book might be about.

The auction will last one week and I will match whatever the final selling price will be with my own personal donation.

Because I will be running the auction through eBay, I can't mention on the charity aspect in the auction listing. They don't allow people to claim they will donate money they receive because eBay can't police every single claim and make 100% sure everyone is on the level. Which I understand and can't fault them for. Anyway, that's why the auction description will be pared-down and minimal. But you can keep up with the details of the auction here on this blog and through social media.

Please repost, link and spread the word any way you can. It's a good read, for a good cause.

Click here to place your bid.

The Girl Who Didn't Like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Hi, my name is Christa, and I didn't like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Well, that's not really fair to say, because I never finished it. I barely started and found that I just couldn't get into it. The prose seemed exceptionally long-winded and dull (a translation issue, maybe?) and I kept being tempted away from it by other books on my TBR pile. In the end I just gave up. Maybe that's a flaw on my part rather than on the part of the book itself, since billions of other people loved it. Maybe it's just the beginning that's dull and all the good stuff is later on. Maybe someday I'll give it another try.

Because I didn't really care for the book, I never got around to seeing the film. I keep meaning to see it but keep choosing other things instead. Now one of my favorite modern directors, David Fincher, is directing an American version.

I have to admit, I'm curious. I'm willing to see anything Fincher directs, so I'll go see this version for sure. In a way, I'm looking forward to watching it fresh, as if it were a brand new thing with no context. Then maybe I'll work backwards and watch the original movie and give the book another try.

What do you guys think about the book and/or film? What do you think about Fincher's remake? Discuss...

Oh, the Irony

I'm not really sure what to make of this article about the ironic viewing of genre films and the notion of "so-bad-it's-good."

Go on and read it. I'll wait.

In a lot of ways I agree with the author. After all, I get pretty annoyed by the incessant giggling at the Film Noir Festival. I hate that post-modern ironic attitude that uses snarky, mocking laughter as a constant peacock-like display to demonstrate how above it all you are. I hate that this seems to have become the only possible response to anything and everything. Especially things that are old. Like anything made more than a decade ago is automatically transformed into camp.

On the other hand, I also love watching bad movies. The badder the better. Love MST3K. Love getting together with smart, quick-witted friends and subjecting each other to cinematic gems like MEGAFORCE and ATTACK OF THE BEAST CREATURES. I own both PENTATHALON and DIVINE ENFORCER on VHS. I watch movies like these not to show off how cool I am by making fun of them, but simply because they cheer me up and make me laugh. Because I find the cheesy rubber monsters, wooden acting, baffling plot twists and goofy action sequences highly entertaining.

I have tons of genuine affection for these movies. Whenever I'm sick, bad 50s monster movies are my visual chicken soup. Comfort viewing. I also know the difference between a film like FORBIDDEN PLANET and one like INVASION OF THE STAR CREATURES.

So maybe what I'm trying to say is that I don't think it's wrong to laugh at old movies, I think it's wrong to laugh indiscriminately at every single moment in every single movie. To laugh because you think that's how you're supposed to react, not because you really think something is funny.

But I don't know. Maybe I'm totally full of shit. Maybe I'm just as bad as all those snickering hipsters. What do you think? Discuss…

Free Flash!

Since I'll be fucking off for the next few days, here's a little flash to tide you over. Flash fiction, that is.

(Quick FYI - because I'm a woman, many readers don't get that the unnamed first person narrator of this piece is a man. Now you know.)

BUTTERFACE

Jinelle was all kinds of ugly, but somehow she made it work. Her face caught you staring and wouldn't let you go. Hard, mannish angles and concrete skin. Crooked alligator teeth inside her brutal slash of a mouth. Her narrow green eyes might have been her best feature if they weren't always laughing at you. Those eyes let you know she had your number.

I found out she was dead on my first cigarette break of the day.

"Heard old Butterface got into the wrong car last night," Jimmy Stenzlo told me as he offered me his lighter. "They found her in a dumpster with her fishnet stocking around her neck."

Jimmy was two years older than me and liked to think of himself as a man of the world. He was very serious about hookers. Kept detailed stats on every commercially available female in a ten mile radius. He called Jinelle "Butterface" because: "She's got a hot body. But, her face…"

At first it wouldn't sink in. Jinelle couldn't be dead. I had seen her on the corner of Delmont Avenue when I got off my shift the night before. She showed me that she didn't have any panties under her miniskirt and then winked and asked me if I had five dollars. I didn't. Now she was dead.

Thinking about it gave me this weird feeling in my stomach. I wished I'd given her the five dollars. I wished I'd given her five hundred dollars to spend the night with me instead of the guy who killed her. I only got the one hand job from her that summer and I still think about it sometimes.

"The killer put a paper bag over her head when he dumped her," Jimmy said, lighting up himself and laughing through clenched teeth. "Sounds like a civic beautification project to me."

I didn't mean to cut his throat. I just wanted to… I don't know. Just hit him or something. For Jinelle. I forgot all about the boxcutter in my hand.

I've been on death row for nine years now, but they never did catch the guy who killed Butterface. I still think about her and the hand job she gave me that one time. I can still see those mean, laughing eyes looking right at me while she did it. She was the only woman I've ever been with.

Talking Tie Ins

I'll be moderating an upcoming MWA panel on novelizations and media tie ins in June. Deets below:

Further Adventures: On Writing Novelizations and Media Tie-In

Ever wonder what it's like to play with other people's characters? From novel versions of popular movies to licensed original fiction featuring franchise characters from film, TV or even video games, media-related work-for-hire novels are the new 21st century pulp fiction.

Five veteran pulp slingers will discuss the drama, the deadlines and other unique challenges of this often misunderstood genre.

With Doug Lyle (Royal Pains), William Rabkin (Psych), Lee Goldberg (Monk) and Nathan Long (Warhammer), moderated by me, Christa (Snakes on a Plane) Faust.

June 18, 2011

11:00 am to 2:00 pm

Sportsman's Lodge, 12833 Ventura Blvd.

Lunch: $20 for members, $25 for non-members.

Visit the MWA website to pay via Paypal or to download mail-in form.

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Baked Beans and Spam

I realize that LiveJournal is ghost-town now, that's it's become nothing but a handy delivery system to send content to Twitter and Facebook. But even though I don't get very many comments from actual humans on LJ anymore, the number of spam comments has gone through the roof in the past few months. I screen, so none of that junk gets through to readers (all three of them) but it's still annoying as hell.

So two questions for the hive mind. First, are other LJ users experiencing the same recent uptick in spam action or is it just me? Second, is it finally time to move on from LJ. Maybe even rethink this whole long-form blogging concept?

Discuss...

Cheap Thrills

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be participating in a library event sponsored by the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society, along with fellow authors Morgan St. James, Michael Mallory, Gary Phillips , and M.M. Gornell.

"Writing For the Thrill of It"

Saturday, April 23rd, 3:00 pm
Palms-Rancho Park Library
Ray Bradbury Room, Second Floor.

More info here.

Gaslight and My Name is Julia Ross

Last night was the last night. That is to say, the last night of Noir City Hollywood. The big kiss off. The end of the line. In a way, I wish they would have ended the run with the manly bang of CRY TOUGH, but instead we ended with a much more girly whimper. A melodramatic Gothic Noir double, neither of which was really Noir at all.

First, GASLIGHT.



Ingrid Bergman plays a sweet young singer who falls for dastardly pianist Charles Boyer. Suave, slippery Boyer is clearly up to no good from frame one. He marries our heroine, moves her back into the house where her beloved aunt was strangled, takes total control over every aspect of her life and tries to make her think she's going mad.

This a beautifully shot, classy film full of intriguing plot twists and great character actors, like barely legal Angela Lansbury as the saucy maid and Dame May Whitty as the nosy, mystery reading neighbor. (Come to think of it, this is the second film this year that features a female mystery reader, the first being A WOMAN'S SECRET.) It's got Bergman in a corset and a great bondage scene. I love that Bergman, after being helpless through the whole film, gets tough with Boyer in the final reel. But GASLIGHT isn't really my kind of flick. Just like CRY TOUGH isn't a good movie, but I loved it, GASLIGHT is a very good movie, but left me cold.

Truth be told, I'm not a big fan of the whole innocent-woman-being-driven-mad story archetype. I think part of the reason it doesn't resonate for me comes from my own 21st century modern feminist upbringing. I imagine that many more women from earlier decades must have felt voiceless and powerless in their daily lives. Housewives who had to take whatever their husband dished out without complaint. Single women who were afraid to report rape or other abuse because they thought no one would believe them, that the man's word would be taken over theirs. Seen from that perspective, this kind of story makes perfect sense.

And of course, we were in for more of the same with the second feature, MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS. But between the two films, I found the dirt-cheap and balls out over-the-top JULIA ROSS infinitely more enjoyable.



The plot of this film is so batshit crazy that I almost don't want to give anything away. The best part for me was going in knowing absolutely nothing about it, so if you want to do the same, you'd better skip the next two paragraphs.

SPOILERS (sort of…)

Nina Foch plays Julia, an ordinary young girl trying to make it on her own in London. Her sweetheart goes off to marry another woman and, despondent, she applies for a job as live in secretary to an older woman (Dame May Whitty again.) The woman is specifically looking for a girl with no family or boyfriends, so that should have been a tip off right there. Just as Julia's about to leave for the new job, she runs into her ex, who didn't get married after all. He tells her still loves her, and they make a date for the next night. That's where the plot takes a left turn at Albuquerque.

Her new employer slips her a mickey and when she wakes up she's in a secluded sea-side mansion dressed in someone else's monogrammed nightgown. Of course, she's upset that she missed her date, but she's even more upset when she realizes that her "employer," the woman's creepy, possibly homicidal son (played with delirious, scenery-chewing abandon by scar-faced George MacReady) and various servants are all acting as if she's a completely different person, MacReady's wife. When she demands to be set free or tries to tell them who she really is, they just soothe her and tell her not to tire herself with such crazy talk. Soon she finds out what they really have planned for her, and has to find a way to get word to her boyfriend in London or escape on her own before it's too late.

This movie was a hoot from start to finish. Even though GASLIGHT is a much better film, I found that JULIA ROSS was a lot more fun. Neither one is a movie I would have picked if the choice were up to me, but in the end, I'm glad I saw them both.

So that's it for the 13th annual Film Noir Festival, Faustketeers. Now, it's back to the pulp mines for your plucky girl reporter.