I watched some of the original Alien yesterday afternoon when I stumbled upon it on STARZ network, which is a subscription channel we aren’t supposed to have but do. The guy who installed our cable told us we would probably get it, and he was right. What impresses me most about Alien is its grittiness. This isn’t pristine space travel with faultless gadgets–it’s flying by the seat of your pants, making the rules up as you go along space travel. It’s “even the smart guys make dumb mistakes” reality.
I finally came up with an angle from which to tackle a short story that’s due at the end of the month. It came to me this morning but originated with a First 48 show I watched yesterday about a serial killer in Kansas. The story’s not going to be about serial killers–there are enough of those already without me contributing one more–but it provided the germ of the idea that developed into a story. Then, when I read the newspaper this morning I came up with a second angle for a story–a completely different one and equally exciting. I wish I could find a way to combine them, but I fear that may be too much for one little 4000 word story to contain.
Another good episode of Breaking Bad, if by “good” I mean “what else can possibly go wrong?” That laugh–the one uttered by the crack whore who lured the drug dealer into a blind alley–was one of the most grating sounds I’ve ever heard on television. The funny thing about the show is that Walt is turning into Jesse and Jesse into Walt, after a fashion. Walt is so desperate to save his family after he’s gone that he’s losing it while he’s still alive.
I finished responding to the copyeditor’s report yesterday afternoon and sent the document back to my editor. I wish I could write an ode to copyeditors. They perform a service that few people recognize or appreciate, one that improves the work considerably but is only noticed when it isn’t done well. For example, I referenced a fairly obscure publisher a few times and stupidly misspelled the name–she caught it. I never would have thought to check because I believed I was right.
I finished The Given Day this weekend and started my book review last night. Should be available soon. Next, I picked up Loser’s Town by Daniel Depp, about a private detective hired to look into death threats received by a popular actor. The guy who wrote it is a Palm D’or winning screenwriter. So far, it’s a little flippant and everyone seems to have the same attitude about Los Angeles, but I’m along for the ride to see where it goes.
It’s going to drop down into the mid-30s tonight, after being up in the 80s all weekend. In Texas. In April. There’s a good chance it will be a record low for this date. Imagine that.
