David McMullen-Sullivan's Blog, page 14
December 1, 2017
The Empire Really Does Strike Back
While using my voice recognition feature to write a text message about an inane subject, my phone wrote this: Is my cat empire in battle.
Don't get me started on all the cat Jedi memes that such a text brings to mind.
Don't get me started on all the cat Jedi memes that such a text brings to mind.
November 28, 2017
An Author's Favorite Christmas Present
For the holidays, the best present you can give your favorite author (here on goodreads) is a book review.
Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but I even appreciate the bad reviews. I learn a lot from them and use them to improve my writing.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but I even appreciate the bad reviews. I learn a lot from them and use them to improve my writing.
Merry Christmas everyone!
November 25, 2017
Where Do the Dead Go When They Die
Where do the dead go when they die? This is a question posed in the new movie Coco, and although the film has no answer, it does have the answer to the most important things in life.
The picture is about Miguel, a young, Mexican boy, who has music in his soul, which would be a good thing on any given Sunday except that his whole family hates music. Believe it or not, they have their reasons.
So, Miguel is not allowed to follow his dream of singing and playing his guitar. Of course, he does what any kid would do. He rebels.
Rebellion gets him into a lot of trouble during the Día de los Muertos celebration that's going on in his town, and he winds up on the other side with his dead relatives.
They don't like music either.
Now he's got to get back to the living before he's turned into one of the dead himself.
The film is a cornucopia of color, and celebrates Mexico's obsession with the brightest ones in the spectrum. It also teaches a lesson on the true meaning of Día de los Muertos, a wonderful holiday that has less to do with skeletons and more to do with remembering our families through the generations. It's a respectful occasion and based on love. Having seen the movie, I think I'll start observing it at my house.
Love and family are what ground us in life, and Coco delivers that message in story and song (and with a great twist!). It's a delightful, heartfelt film that anyone would enjoy. I encourage you to go see it.
Also, you'll come to realize that love songs sound best when sung in Spanish. Stay for the English/Spanish mix of "Remember Me" at the end of the show, and you'll see what I mean.
The picture is about Miguel, a young, Mexican boy, who has music in his soul, which would be a good thing on any given Sunday except that his whole family hates music. Believe it or not, they have their reasons.
So, Miguel is not allowed to follow his dream of singing and playing his guitar. Of course, he does what any kid would do. He rebels.
Rebellion gets him into a lot of trouble during the Día de los Muertos celebration that's going on in his town, and he winds up on the other side with his dead relatives.
They don't like music either.
Now he's got to get back to the living before he's turned into one of the dead himself.
The film is a cornucopia of color, and celebrates Mexico's obsession with the brightest ones in the spectrum. It also teaches a lesson on the true meaning of Día de los Muertos, a wonderful holiday that has less to do with skeletons and more to do with remembering our families through the generations. It's a respectful occasion and based on love. Having seen the movie, I think I'll start observing it at my house.
Love and family are what ground us in life, and Coco delivers that message in story and song (and with a great twist!). It's a delightful, heartfelt film that anyone would enjoy. I encourage you to go see it.
Also, you'll come to realize that love songs sound best when sung in Spanish. Stay for the English/Spanish mix of "Remember Me" at the end of the show, and you'll see what I mean.
November 23, 2017
To the Dark Room of Souls
I have been feverish to finish the final book in my Moorehead Manor series: To the Dark Room of Souls.
I think giving birth would be a smidge simpler, because at least I could ask for a caesarian and get the thing out of me − not so with a book.
Like "The Night Before Christmas", everything was going so well. Not a creature was stirring. That sort of thing. But, I made a fatal mistake. While reviewing my work, I went down into my story's literary basement.
In every horror film ever shot, no actor came out alive when they went down into the basement. Don't they know that's where Jason lives? Dark basements are his man cave.
Quick! Tammy! Run! He's right behind you.
(This is the part where she trips on lint and gets gutted with a machete.)
Once I saw my scary characters running around down there, it dawned on me that I needed some restructuring. I took out some of the story, and even flipped chapter four for chapter one. It had a better hook.
So, lately, I've been Dr. Frankenstein putting all the pieces back together to make a superior monster and pulling my hair out in the process.
Seriously... the birth thing seems pretty accurate to me right now.
On the upside, my two most evil characters have finally met and entered into a partnership that will unleash the greatest evil the world has ever seen.
I feel really good about it. Should help me sleep better tonight knowing they can finally start plotting to engage in unspeakable atrocities.
Good times.
As I get closer to the finish line, I'll get it beta-read, make revisions and get it out into the public domain. It's taken me a lot longer to build this house of horrors then I thought, but soon everyone can come in and take a tour.
You're gonna love the basement.
I think giving birth would be a smidge simpler, because at least I could ask for a caesarian and get the thing out of me − not so with a book.
Like "The Night Before Christmas", everything was going so well. Not a creature was stirring. That sort of thing. But, I made a fatal mistake. While reviewing my work, I went down into my story's literary basement.
In every horror film ever shot, no actor came out alive when they went down into the basement. Don't they know that's where Jason lives? Dark basements are his man cave.
Quick! Tammy! Run! He's right behind you.
(This is the part where she trips on lint and gets gutted with a machete.)
Once I saw my scary characters running around down there, it dawned on me that I needed some restructuring. I took out some of the story, and even flipped chapter four for chapter one. It had a better hook.
So, lately, I've been Dr. Frankenstein putting all the pieces back together to make a superior monster and pulling my hair out in the process.
Seriously... the birth thing seems pretty accurate to me right now.
On the upside, my two most evil characters have finally met and entered into a partnership that will unleash the greatest evil the world has ever seen.
I feel really good about it. Should help me sleep better tonight knowing they can finally start plotting to engage in unspeakable atrocities.
Good times.
As I get closer to the finish line, I'll get it beta-read, make revisions and get it out into the public domain. It's taken me a lot longer to build this house of horrors then I thought, but soon everyone can come in and take a tour.
You're gonna love the basement.
November 2, 2017
(More) Worst Dialog Ever Written
I'm overdue to post another snippet of revolting dialog from a motion picture. This one was spoken by John Travolta. I encourage you to read it aloud, so that your ears can absorb the line's delicious hideousness.
"While you were still learning how to spell your name, I was being trained to conquer galaxies."
− Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000
"While you were still learning how to spell your name, I was being trained to conquer galaxies."
− Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000
October 22, 2017
Good Will Mindhunting
Netflix's new series, Mindhunter, is billed as an American crime drama, and what this series has in crime, it lacks in drama.
Let me explain.
First off, I'm going to go for full disclosure here. I've only seen the first three episodes (which debuted a little over a week ago). But, those episodes have been enough for me to get a feel for the series.
Consider this blog entry my creepy, cut-and-paste letter to the showrunners.
The series stars Jonathan Groff who plays Holden Ford, an FBI agent in the bureau's behavioral science unit who gets the scent of what's on America's homicide horizon. The bloodhound in him has picked up on the fact that crimes in the country are getting more violent, horrific and demented.
His instincts lead him to start interviewing serial killers to (in essence) mine their minds for a greater understanding of such sociopaths and their motives. Along the way, he even picks up a partner, Bill Tench, played by Holt McCallany.
It's a great premise. It just misses the mark with where this series should be going.
The show has its moments. For example, the interview with Edmund Kemper, the co-ed killer, in episode two. It's hair-raising; however, this wonderful effect is diluted because of its overuse and the episode's anti-climatic ending.
Actually, given that sex seems to be closely tied to their subject's deviant behavior - I have to say that every episode, so far, ends without a gratifying money-shot.
This problem is what is "murdering" the show. Not just each episode's ending which might as well show Holden Ford going out for a loaf of bread, but also because they missed the chance to really give the series an adrenaline shot in episode three.
The whole direction of the series' plot should be leading to the fact that Holden and Bill start to take what they've learned and become serial killer detectives, and I'm talking Clarice Starling kind of stuff.
But no.
Oh, sure in episode three they crack a case. That's great, but they did it in three-hundred seconds. The rest of the 39 minutes is spent on academic discussion. So boring!
If the showrunners want to make this series exciting, our heroes need to go down into the dark, damp basement and find the torture chambers and the dismemberment dungeons. They need to put their lives in danger and come away victorious. At present, all they're achieving is doing interviews that one could use to write a post-doctorate thesis on human felonious aberrations.
I can watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians to get that.
Let me explain.
First off, I'm going to go for full disclosure here. I've only seen the first three episodes (which debuted a little over a week ago). But, those episodes have been enough for me to get a feel for the series.
Consider this blog entry my creepy, cut-and-paste letter to the showrunners.
The series stars Jonathan Groff who plays Holden Ford, an FBI agent in the bureau's behavioral science unit who gets the scent of what's on America's homicide horizon. The bloodhound in him has picked up on the fact that crimes in the country are getting more violent, horrific and demented.
His instincts lead him to start interviewing serial killers to (in essence) mine their minds for a greater understanding of such sociopaths and their motives. Along the way, he even picks up a partner, Bill Tench, played by Holt McCallany.
It's a great premise. It just misses the mark with where this series should be going.
The show has its moments. For example, the interview with Edmund Kemper, the co-ed killer, in episode two. It's hair-raising; however, this wonderful effect is diluted because of its overuse and the episode's anti-climatic ending.
Actually, given that sex seems to be closely tied to their subject's deviant behavior - I have to say that every episode, so far, ends without a gratifying money-shot.
This problem is what is "murdering" the show. Not just each episode's ending which might as well show Holden Ford going out for a loaf of bread, but also because they missed the chance to really give the series an adrenaline shot in episode three.
The whole direction of the series' plot should be leading to the fact that Holden and Bill start to take what they've learned and become serial killer detectives, and I'm talking Clarice Starling kind of stuff.
But no.
Oh, sure in episode three they crack a case. That's great, but they did it in three-hundred seconds. The rest of the 39 minutes is spent on academic discussion. So boring!
If the showrunners want to make this series exciting, our heroes need to go down into the dark, damp basement and find the torture chambers and the dismemberment dungeons. They need to put their lives in danger and come away victorious. At present, all they're achieving is doing interviews that one could use to write a post-doctorate thesis on human felonious aberrations.
I can watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians to get that.
October 1, 2017
Self-Stereotyping
“There's this Lands End dress that all the Asians are wearing in the office.”
― Asian woman on the elevator
― Asian woman on the elevator
Schooled by Billy Elliot
Once in awhile, it's good to have things you've learned reinforced, even if the lessons are obvious ones. It strengthens knowledge that's grown stale.
Funny thing at this point, now that you've read that, you've had the obvious reinforced for yourself. So, normally, we'd be done here, and we could all go back to more important things (like watching cat videos).
But then there's Billy Elliot the Musical.
The movie was turned into a play back in 2005. So, of course, these days it's touring, and - by now - you've guessed where I was last Thursday night.
As a new writer (and someone who enjoys theater), I sat down in my seat in the auditorium ready to be entertained. I also wiggled in my chair which had a bolt loose; whereupon, the seat of the chair collapsed.
No, I'm not kidding.
This should have clued me into what was to come.
Something was lacking as I watched this production. The scenes just weren't grabbing me, and I wondered why, considering that I had enjoyed the movie when it came out in 2000.
Then it came to me, the scenes weren't going where I wanted them to go. There seemed no pay-off, no sense of satisfaction from the outcome.
But why?
As I delved deeper into my reaction to the play, one thing stood out to me. It is as follows:
Billy attends a ballet class and gains a mentor. This mentor will lead Billy to not only discover his life's passion but also pursue it. This is a life-altering relationship for the young character. The weight of such a relationship, and its effect on both student and teacher, should eclipse everything around it. But it does not. The relationship is dry, not full of promise. Their gravitational pull towards each other is weak at best when it should have the strength to drag a comet from its orbit.
It's a missed opportunity. The play lacks an essential piece of its magic since the relationship should be the keystone to what makes the whole thing work.
So, here's where the "obvious" sauntered in for me during that night's performance. As a writer, you must always understand your characters, what drives them, what makes them happy, sad and conflicted (take your pick of the human emotional spectrum). But you can't just understand the character, you have to understand the relationships that they are in and give those joinings the weight they deserve.
The bond of two people in love is an intense thing, and it shouldn't be played out as if it's equivalent to one's relationship to a co-worker. It's not right, and it's not truth.
Little Billy Elliot taught me something that night that I think I'd forgotten. So, thanks Billy.
Your play, overall, didn't grab me. But - I did enjoy the dancing dresses number. So, it wasn't all bad.
Cheers.
Funny thing at this point, now that you've read that, you've had the obvious reinforced for yourself. So, normally, we'd be done here, and we could all go back to more important things (like watching cat videos).
But then there's Billy Elliot the Musical.
The movie was turned into a play back in 2005. So, of course, these days it's touring, and - by now - you've guessed where I was last Thursday night.
As a new writer (and someone who enjoys theater), I sat down in my seat in the auditorium ready to be entertained. I also wiggled in my chair which had a bolt loose; whereupon, the seat of the chair collapsed.
No, I'm not kidding.
This should have clued me into what was to come.
Something was lacking as I watched this production. The scenes just weren't grabbing me, and I wondered why, considering that I had enjoyed the movie when it came out in 2000.
Then it came to me, the scenes weren't going where I wanted them to go. There seemed no pay-off, no sense of satisfaction from the outcome.
But why?
As I delved deeper into my reaction to the play, one thing stood out to me. It is as follows:
Billy attends a ballet class and gains a mentor. This mentor will lead Billy to not only discover his life's passion but also pursue it. This is a life-altering relationship for the young character. The weight of such a relationship, and its effect on both student and teacher, should eclipse everything around it. But it does not. The relationship is dry, not full of promise. Their gravitational pull towards each other is weak at best when it should have the strength to drag a comet from its orbit.
It's a missed opportunity. The play lacks an essential piece of its magic since the relationship should be the keystone to what makes the whole thing work.
So, here's where the "obvious" sauntered in for me during that night's performance. As a writer, you must always understand your characters, what drives them, what makes them happy, sad and conflicted (take your pick of the human emotional spectrum). But you can't just understand the character, you have to understand the relationships that they are in and give those joinings the weight they deserve.
The bond of two people in love is an intense thing, and it shouldn't be played out as if it's equivalent to one's relationship to a co-worker. It's not right, and it's not truth.
Little Billy Elliot taught me something that night that I think I'd forgotten. So, thanks Billy.
Your play, overall, didn't grab me. But - I did enjoy the dancing dresses number. So, it wasn't all bad.
Cheers.
September 18, 2017
Stranger Parallels
I've mentioned before that I always come late to the pop culture party. For example, by the time I got hooked on Downton Abbey, the series had long been over. Now, I've just started to watch (on a lark) Stranger Things. The series is already into its second season, so I'm way behind. But, maybe that's not a bad thing.
Since the show is fully launched, there's already a lot of commentary on the series that I've been able to consider. Many people see repeated parallels to Stephen Spielberg's work. They're wrong. Well, not that there aren't some comparisons to the director's movies, but, overall, the show is borrowing heavily from another Stephen.
Stephen King.
Don't believe me. I'll prove it.
- A bunch of young misfits are banded together to fight a monster, that's It.
- A girl with special powers bleeds at the nose every time she uses them, that's Firestarter.
See what I mean; however, there are some borrowings from Mr. Spielberg.
- A young child is trapped in another dimension within the child's own house, that's Poltergeist.
I'd be fine with a few allusions to 80's horror. But, what is putting me off about the show is that it does it a lot. I mean.... A LOT.
Imitation is said to be the best form of flattery, but this is rising to the level of outright 80's horror plagerism. The show is starving for originality, and my hope would be that the showrunners would have the courage to write some original material.
Already the kids are dressing like they're Ghostbusters in season 2. At this rate, a guy wearing a white, hockey mask and carrying a machete will start walking around the town. Perhaps they can air the episode on Friday the 13th.
Since the show is fully launched, there's already a lot of commentary on the series that I've been able to consider. Many people see repeated parallels to Stephen Spielberg's work. They're wrong. Well, not that there aren't some comparisons to the director's movies, but, overall, the show is borrowing heavily from another Stephen.
Stephen King.
Don't believe me. I'll prove it.
- A bunch of young misfits are banded together to fight a monster, that's It.
- A girl with special powers bleeds at the nose every time she uses them, that's Firestarter.
See what I mean; however, there are some borrowings from Mr. Spielberg.
- A young child is trapped in another dimension within the child's own house, that's Poltergeist.
I'd be fine with a few allusions to 80's horror. But, what is putting me off about the show is that it does it a lot. I mean.... A LOT.
Imitation is said to be the best form of flattery, but this is rising to the level of outright 80's horror plagerism. The show is starving for originality, and my hope would be that the showrunners would have the courage to write some original material.
Already the kids are dressing like they're Ghostbusters in season 2. At this rate, a guy wearing a white, hockey mask and carrying a machete will start walking around the town. Perhaps they can air the episode on Friday the 13th.
September 14, 2017
Darth Vader Speaks French
I've been out of the country for a few weeks, doing a road trip through southern Spain. For the last 3 days of our trip, my spouse and I decided to visit Disneyland Paris.
Oh là là!
Now, one thing I forgot about the French is how much they smoke (Europeans in general, really), and as an asthmatic - I was shocked to see them all walking around the park smoking, even in line next to you.
I'd like to say that it didn't put a damper on the visit, but I'll admit that I ended up yelling at a few of them.
I'm really getting grumpy in my old age.
Just the same - we did have fun. But there's one thing about going to Disneyland Paris I should warn you about.
Darth Vader speaks French.
Now - why is this a big deal? Well, Darth is supposed to be a menacing guy. Evil really. But something about hearing him speak in French takes the scare factor out of him.
I mean, when Darth Vader says: Ne pas sous-estimer la puissance du côté obscur. It just doesn't strike fear into your heart.
Frankly, I thought he was saying: I will slaughter you all if these croissants aren't flaky. For that matter, maybe he was threatening his crew with not showing a Jerry Lewis movie on the Death Star that night.
Of course, who knows, and you must certainly decide for yourself. But as for me (someone who loves languages) - and not to be Anglocentric - but Darth just sounds more terrifying speaking in English.
German would be pretty scary too.
Oh là là!
Now, one thing I forgot about the French is how much they smoke (Europeans in general, really), and as an asthmatic - I was shocked to see them all walking around the park smoking, even in line next to you.
I'd like to say that it didn't put a damper on the visit, but I'll admit that I ended up yelling at a few of them.
I'm really getting grumpy in my old age.
Just the same - we did have fun. But there's one thing about going to Disneyland Paris I should warn you about.
Darth Vader speaks French.
Now - why is this a big deal? Well, Darth is supposed to be a menacing guy. Evil really. But something about hearing him speak in French takes the scare factor out of him.
I mean, when Darth Vader says: Ne pas sous-estimer la puissance du côté obscur. It just doesn't strike fear into your heart.
Frankly, I thought he was saying: I will slaughter you all if these croissants aren't flaky. For that matter, maybe he was threatening his crew with not showing a Jerry Lewis movie on the Death Star that night.
Of course, who knows, and you must certainly decide for yourself. But as for me (someone who loves languages) - and not to be Anglocentric - but Darth just sounds more terrifying speaking in English.
German would be pretty scary too.
