A while back, I sat down for a lengthy interview with a producer working for Biography Channel International. They were updating their Stephen King biography, which was a decade out of date, and wanted to add some new faces to the mix. Lisa Rogak and I fit the bill. I spent three hours answering questions based on what I wrote in The Stephen King Illustrated Companion. I figured they might use five or ten seconds of all that footage—and the five or ten seconds where I said something ill advised or ill considered.
I received a DVD copy of the finished product last weekend. While I find it painful to watch myself on the screen, I didn’t see anything I regret saying, which was my worst fear. They actually used quite a bit of the new footage. And where else will I get to share the screen with people like Johnny Depp and John Cusak? In fact, it might be my only opportunity to be on television. This version is for the international market only, so I don’t expect to accidentally stumble across myself on TV while flipping channels.
The first single from The Union, the upcoming Elton John/Leon Russell album, is now available at iTunes. It’s called “If It Wasn’t For Bad,” and was written by Leon Russell. It “features vocals by Elton John and piano and vocals by Russell along with an extraordinary band bringing a bold rock/country sound organically crafted by these true musical legends,” to quote the Decca press release.
I’ve been exploring options for converting my work desk into a standing desk. I’m not sure this will be a permanent change, so I don’t want to invest a ton of money in it. The swivel arms that I’ve found at ergonomic shops—ones with sufficient range for what I’m looking for at last—all run between $700 and $1200. Out of my budget. I’d be happy with a wooden platform that I can sit my flat screen monitor, keyboard and mouse onto. Maybe I’m not looking in the right places, but I’m not finding anything that fits the bill. I might have to break down and build it myself. My biggest concern is in getting the height right, which is why the swivel arm options were attractive. Anyone out there have any first-hand experience doing this?
For the first time in weeks, we aren’t under a heat advisory. The temperatures are dropping slowly this week. By Friday we’ll barely be in the 90s during the daytime. It’s a welcome change.
I’ve been invited to join a local, limited membership writing group. There will be just five of us, four of whom I’ve met before. All of us are published. The biggest downside is that two of the writers are in San Antonio, a solid three-plus hour drive away. Our first get-together is in mid-September, so we’ll see how onerous the drive is. I gave up the local writing guild a number of years ago because I didn’t think I was getting anything out of it, but most of the writers in that group were still struggling to get published. This should be different.
I finished Dexter by Design, the fourth Jeff Lindsay novel, this weekend. It’s an improvement over Dexter in the Dark, which jumped the shark badly by wandering off into Moloch territory. Narrator Dexter has an acerbic wit, especially in his observations about Miami drivers, but he treats his homicidal tendencies more like demonic possession than a corruption of his personality. Also, Lindsay tries too hard to make a statement about death and dismemberment as performance art by having Dexter and Rita visit a gallery in Paris, while on their honeymoon, that features video of a woman cutting her leg off bit by bit with a chainsaw. Ultimately, this vignette ties in thematically with the rest of the book, but not actually, which makes it seem like something of a coincidence. Everything gets tidied up a little too neatly and conveniently at the end, too.
Started Three Stations by Martin Cruz Smith. So far it’s set in and around the same three train station cluster featured in Stalin’s Ghost—a lively place in the daytime and an underworld at night.
On Saturday, we went out shopping for a little used car for our daughter to use at university. She lives not far from campus, but there are no sidewalks. The first car we tried out was a disaster. The engine light came on before we left the lot and the air conditioner never produced any cold air. It was hotter inside than out. I guess we should have gotten a clue when the salesman didn’t join us for the test drive. We tried a couple of other places and decided the VW dealer would be our last. We struck gold—got a very nice car for a decent price. So nice, in fact, that my wife decided she’d rather have that one and passed on her car to our daughter!
