WHY I LOVE FLYING

Now, it's well known that Luscious has a phobia about flying. It's probably less well known that I'm as eager about it as a private school student with a trip to see Nursie and a bowl of warm vaseline. I loves it, I tells 'ee, I bloody loves it.

I mean, come on! On Sunday night, interrupted only by an attractive woman who gave me a warm meal with a cool drink and a chocolate bar and who then did the dishes for me, I: read several stories from the Ray Vukcevich collection Meet Me In The Moon Room and discovered another author I would kill to write like; saw a movie; watched Stephen Fry drop Parky to the floor in hysterics; wrote an entire short story; ate; drank; did I mention the chocolate?; had a nap; and performed one of my favourite solo acts, that I've not had the opportunity to do in some years- listened to several hours of music, in the dark, with my eyes closed with no fear of interruption.

What's not to love?

LABYRINTH OF THE FAUN

Saw Pan's Labyrinth whilst in Brisbane. It's a slow movie, and for much of the first two-thirds of the film seems slow without great reason to be so. Then the screws tighten, and it slides towards so many terrible consequences with inexorable momentum that you find yourself appalled and invested in equal quantities.

It's a remarkable achievement: layered, complex, and deeply tragic. I fell in love with it a little bit, I think.

As my pal Ben Maulbeck said afterwards: all that, and Franco still ruled for 40 years.

....AND IT'S GOODNIGHT FROM HIM

All right, that's all for now. A smattering of falderal to finish--

I've been contatced by Producer Matt, who wants me to work on a third draft of the movie. This is a good thing: he likes where I'm taking it and has a screed of notes to help me thicken the world behind the plot. I should have it all done by mid-late February. If this movie doesn't get made, I may have to climb a water tower....

I've received a swathe of good advice regarding the selling of Napoleone's Land, and I'll be pushing hard to turn this excellent (in my humble opinion :) ) manuscript into a sold novel over the next few months. My deepest thanks to Kate Eltham, Gavin Grant, and Kelly Link for the wisdom.

I anticipate having two new stories in envelopes by the end of next week, and half a dozen out by the end of February. After a lean 2006, I have sloughed the majority of distractions from my eyes, and am prepapring for a significant change in my work habits across 2007. My second novel, The Corpse Rat King, should crest the halfway point by end of February as well, which will make me a happy writer.

I've read over 50 stories already this year, counting the 17 I read from my Clarion students. The Batterslog has been updated. No novels as yet: I might remedy that after I finish the collection I'm currently reading. Of course, maybe I should shove graphic novels under that heading. That'll fill it out pretty quickly :)

Back to school for Aiden tomorrow. Think pitying thoughts at about 8.30 Perth time. Erin starts pre-primary on Thursday, and due to a happy confluence of tween-jobbyness, I'll be able to take her for her first day. Tune into the mentosphere and feel my happiness :)

Erin's first tooth fell out while I was in Brisbane. Apparently, the tooth fairy pays $2.50 at Nanna's house! She'll be taking a significant pay cut if she ever flies around here, I can tell you....

The Chronicles of Riddick is a piece of shit. But such a fun piece of shit.

Dinosaurs and Satan. Who could ask for more?

I have no words to tell you how wrong this is. It's so very, very wrong. I laughed so much I was in pain.

flying movies falderal writing links