I saw Interstellar tonight and overall found it very moving and enjoyable. As soon as I figure out what the hell happened, I’ll give it an actual review. In the meantime, I wanted to share the text of the poem that featured prominently throughout the film:
DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT
BY: Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late…
You get a month off. No one will bother you. Everyone you care about has expressed support…nay, demanded that you do nothing but write and all will be fine without you until you return. You have a cabin in the woods, or a beach house, or a hotel in Hawaii…ok wherever you want. And all you have to do for the next month is write.
In fact, let’s up the ante. You are locked in the room. You have all the food, sustenance, drinks, water, bathroom, really all the things you need in life. And there’s no distractions. You get like one hour a day for a TV watching break. After that, the TV magically stops until the next day’s one hour break.
Also, you only get to use the Internet in so far as you are conducting novel research. Once you start looking up youtube videos about cats engaging in hilarious activities, the Internet shuts down until you conduct serious research again.
You’re free of all distractions. You have all that you need.
QUESTION – Given this situation, what would you write?
There’s a lot of cool stuff going on there, a bit overwhelming when you’re first getting into it, but I do enjoy the writer, blogger, self-publishing communities, etc.
Oh, and as always, you can follow me on twitter @bookshelfbattle
Thanks for stopping by. You keep reading, I’ll keep writing.
No witty commentary today, other than to say I like this poem:
FIRE AND ICE
BY: Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
January is garbage movie month. It’s not the summertime where people are on vacation and have time to go to a movie. It isn’t Christmas time when families feel the need to get together and watch a movie in the spirit of togetherness, camaraderie, and all that nonsense.
Alas, January is the time when half the country is freezing their butts off and everyone is plugging away on New Year’s resolutions which will be tossed aside by March.
So naturally, I went into The Boy Next Door assuming I was walking into a pile of red hot smelly garbage. To give it a backhanded compliment, it was only hot and smelly garbage, with the “red” adjective being unnecessary. In other words, it was bad, but not as bad as I thought it would be, and not the worst movie I’ve seen…so I guess as January movies go, good job J Lo?
So, let’s get to the disturbing premise. J Lo is estranged from her husband, Garrett, played by John Corbett. As they quickly show you in a massive detail dump of a beginning scene at the start of the movie, he cheated on J Lo with his secretary, thus introducing J Lo to a new low in her career, that of playing a woman who could possibly be cheated on. (Listen, I still don’t buy it, if you have J Lo and you cheat on her, you’re just a greedy bastard, even if we are talking about middle-aged J Lo).
Twenty-year old Noah, played by Ryan Guzman, moves in next door, on the premise that he’s there to help an ailing Uncle, but as we learn later, Noah killed his parents, because, I don’t know, he’s nuts I guess. J Lo’s character, Claire (yes J Lo is old enough to play someone named Claire) helps the young lad cook a meal and in a moment of weakness, she succumbs to his advances.
The whole idea is creepy and weird, and the writers make sure to stress that Noah is 20 years old, I assume in an attempt to make it less creepy and weird. And while I’m not sure how old J Lo is, she has to be in her forties and the idea of her playing a character who gets with someone who probably wasn’t even born yet when she was a fly girl on In Living Color just seems like an odd choice for her acting to career to go in.
After all, I miss the J Lo who was a maid that won Matthew McConaughey’s heart in Maid in Manhattan or the J Lo who trained to kick her killer stalker husband’s ass in Enough. Meanwhile, this movie was basically Enough meets The Graduate.
So, needless to say, Claire tries to break things off with Noah, but as previously mentioned, he’s nuts, and he’s not having any of it. He stalks Claire, threatens her, harasses her. The stakes are high because Claire is a teacher and Noah is attending Claire’s high school. And while the writers, again, make it clear that Noah is 20, the situation would still cost Claire her job, standing in the community, any attempts to reconcile with her cheating husband who is trying to make amends for what he did, and so on.
Sigh. I like J Lo. And this isn’t the worst movie she’s made. That award goes to Gigli. Still, even if he is 20, the whole idea of her playing a teacher who has an affair with a student…its just disturbing and might be an indictment of Hollywood’s treatment of older actors.
After all, J Lo’s kept herself up well and doesn’t look much different from her Maid in Manhattan days, at least in my opinion, anyway. And while her acting skills will probably never earn her an academy award (she’s always been a better singer and dancer), surely Hollywood could find some better roles for her to play.
But alas, no. No matter how beautiful you are, or how long your career has been, if you’re over 40, Hollywood demands you play a stalked mother with marital problems.
As you know, the Bookshelf Battler is a lover of classic literature, and there was brief mention of the fact that Claire was a classic literature teacher. There are some very brief classic lit discussions (not too many, we wouldn’t want to provide any thought provoking discussions to a January movie).
On a bad blind date with a man who belittles Classic Literature, arguing that it is not a good subject to study for one who wants employment, Claire points out JK Rowling as an example of a Classic Lit Major who made it big. And true to form, I sat there with my popcorn, yelling in my mind, “And what about all the other Classic Lit Majors who end up in the slush pile, J Lo?!”
Sigh. I’m such a cliche. Don’t mind me. Keep majoring in Classic Lit people.
Oh, and then there’s a scene where Noah gives Claire “a first edition copy of Homer’s The Iliad.” I don’t have the heart to point out that a first-edition copy of The Iliad probably would have been printed on papyrus or a stone tablet.
So, in conclusion, it’s a movie that a) made me feel bad for J Lo b) was bad and c) wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and d) pretty much what you can expect from a January movie.
Come on, March! We need your better movies to distract us from our broken resolutions!
At some point, you must have heard these infamous words:
“This above all, to your own self be true!”
They originate with the bard himself – William Shakespeare. And “truer” words were never spoken. If you aren’t being true to yourself – i.e. if you are trying to be someone you aren’t, then you are just not going to be happy.
It is a scene that plays out all the time – a parent gives advice to a child who is heading off for college. Here is what Polonius had to say before his son, Laertes, set sail to pursue his studies:
Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame! The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay’d for. There; my blessing with thee!
And these few precepts in thy memory
See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d, unfledged comrade. Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear’t that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!
What say you, readers? Did Polonius give good advice? Bad advice? Discuss in the comments!
Traditional Publishing? Self-publishing? Which way to turn?
This is a topic that has been occupying my mind for a few years, but it was only last year that I decided on the right course for me… If you are still grappling with this one, there are some great articles about… Here’s a recent one from Claire Cook:
And there are many on Joanna Penn’s wonderful blog for writers: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/
So what did I decide? I’ll start with a bit of background…
For all the years I’d been dreaming of becoming an author, I’d been assuming that I wouldn’t be satisfied unless I was published by a bona fide publishing company with a wide distribution. The whole idea of a ‘vanity press’ made me shudder – how could I claim to be a true author if I had to pay someone to print my books? And who would want them?
This is a question I head surprisingly often, especially from new authors. I always tell people that both are valid ways, and advise them to pursue a traditional publishing contract first, if that’s what they want. However, they should not stop at that. Instead, they should keep their options open, should they fail to get a contract.
Secretly, I know that 99% of them will end up Indie. Not because their books are no good, but because of a simple truth: what publisher will prefer an unknown author who’s only just starting out to a midlister Indie with thousands of fans and an established platform?
So, my advice would be to try both and see what works for you. But don’t waste years waiting for an agent or a publisher to come back to you. It’s just not worth it anymore. Besides, you have better chances at being picked by an agent or…
Bookshelf Battle 