The age of Shatner

I know it’s popular to make fun of William Shatner, especially for his stilted delivery as Kirk and his “singing,” but it is my opinion that Shatner is in his golden age and having the time of his life. He was front and center (and “in the game”) on Boston Legal last night. Though he has been nominated for and won awards for his role as Denny Crane, I believe his acting is generally underrated. Last night was a decent tour-de-force, from whimsical to farcical to serious.

I watched NCIS and a little bit of the farce that is American Idol prelim rounds while working on my Duma Key review. With the dearth of new programming, I’m actually getting real work done in the evenings. Maybe this strike isn’t such a bad thing after all.

I am thoroughly enjoying The Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte. It is an interesting exploration into the difference between painting and photography and also of the unforeseen effects the seemingly passive act of taking a photograph can have.

I’ve probably finished another chapter of the novel I’m working on, but at this point I’m just writing down the story and I’ll worry more about the structure later. I’ve reached a section that borrows heavily from the short story this novel was inspired by, so my word count will probably increase significantly tomorrow, though I have to revise the old material as I go. My concept of the main character has changed quite a bit, so I have to ensure some of his foibles, which worked okay when I only had to deal with him for 5000 words instead of 75000, get tamed down. I expect to cross over the 10,000 word mark tomorrow morning.

Check out my Storytellers Unplugged essay tomorrow morning. “You Won’t Believe What Happened Next.”
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