Patrick Kanouse's Blog, page 40

Philip K. Dick and Film

Philip K. Dick's short stories and novels have been adapted into film numerable times with varying degrees of success. Generally, however, one notable trait of Dick adaptations to film is that the story or novel is so greatly altered as to have little or only passing resemblance to Dick's original. This isn't necessarily a unique situation, but some films retain a close proximity to the

Seamus Heaney: Memoriam

As many know now, Seamus Heaney recently passed away.

I always admired Heaney's work. His poetry was filled with a seemingly plain-spoken language, but this is deceptive. Heaney's language was often anything but plain-spoken, but it held the enviable characteristic of seeming inevitable, of coming off as plain-spoken. Heaney needed no frills, no violence of language like Dylan Thomas.

His

Joy of Writing

As I sat down on an early Sunday morning trying to think of what to blog about, my mind just drifted. And I began to think about the novel and the novella and the other novel that I'm in the midst of revising, editing, and rewriting. And the couple of poems that are awaiting attention.

I have an immense sense of joy when I write, even when it's difficult, doesn't work, and all of that. For

Bruno Mars: Some Images

Gina dancing in the confetti of the encore.

Gina dubbed it our summer of fun. We scoped out a lot of things we wanted to do this summer--see movies, go to the Star Wars exhibit, and...the big finale, see Bruno Mars--Gina's favorite musical artist. She loves, loves, loves his music.

So got ourselves some tickets months ago and journeyed to Banker's Life Fieldhouse this past week.

I leave the

Gen Con 2013

This was my first Gen Con, and it was awesome. While Gen Con is nominally a gaming conference, it also features a large Writer's Symposium, and this is what I attended, several panels focused on the writer's craft, and a couple about publishing in some format or other.



What does one get out of such a thing? Mostly, I found the value in adding some new items to my toolkit, getting a refreshed

Top of the Lake: A Review

When this first came out, Gina watched the series, and I didn't have the time to watch it then. I found a few hours recently, and Gina raved about it, so I made sure to watch Top of the Lake. Directed by Jane Campion, this pensive, melancholy mystery takes place in a small town in New Zealand. The story starts of when Tui, a 12-year old girl, walks into a freezing lake. She is rescued and

Synopsis Before Writing

My normal writing process for fiction is to start writing knowing the beginning, the set up, the ending, and a few of the larger happenings. Then I sit down to write and go. I usually think a few chapters ahead, plopping a some notes using cards in Scrivener.

However, I was thinking about what I wanted to do for the third Inspector Pierce novel. I knew the general set up, but I wanted to

Soylent Green: A Review

I confess I had never seen Soylent Green, but when it started popping up on best sci-fi movie lists, I decided to check out a copy from the library and give it a shot. Too bad it took me so long to see it.



The film stars Charlton Heston as NYPD Detective Robert Thorn. The setting of the film is in 2022, and to describe the conditions as grim is an understatement. New York City alone is home

Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination Exhibit

This past weekend, Gina and I headed down to the Indiana State Museum for the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination Exhibit. The exhibit features a number of props from the six movies. While delving into discussions about potential or known science aspects. For example,how would humans survive on a planet such as Tatooine? How do robots recognize faces, with a robot that scans your face

42: A Review

Baseball has been blessed with stories, novels, and films. Baseball--with its distinct innings and clear lines between offense and defense, its ability to reduce itself to a duel between pitcher and batter while retaining a sense of team, and its attachment to many a childhood dream long kept into adulthood--may be particularly suited to appearing in fiction. Even those who are uninterested in