Review of Doctor Who-A Christmas Carol

I have to preface this post with the fact that I am a Who whore. I love every corner of the Whoniverse, good, bad and in-between. There was certainly a lot of buildup to this, as there is for every Christmas special. Being a screenwriter myself I HATE SPOILERS! I know people are curious and want to be in-the-know but consder this-the writer spent weeks, months even years agonizing over the story. It has a certain structure and flow that doesn't work when you know about one part but not what came before it. AnyWho, I did not read a single article or watch a single interview or preview. I need to watch it a few more times to form a complete opinion so this is merely my first impressions. I really liked Moffat's new take on the classic Christmas Carol story,using the concept of the three ghosts to interweave the subplot of Amy and Rory's disasterous honeymoon was very clever. The casting of Michael Gambon was quite a coup and Katherine Jenkins was positively evanescent. I actually didn't know who she was before viewing and assumed she was just a pretty actress lyp-synching but turns out that amazing voice belongs to that amazing face! What I didn't like was the dialogue-Mr. Moffat is capable of such better writing that it's hard to believe he actually wrote it.  I also was not overly thrilled with Matt Smith's performance. He also is capable of much, much better. Hey man, you're standing next to Michael Gambon you bring your A-game. Smith began his tenure as the Doctor so strongly, really exhibiting how the experience with 11 was different from the experience with the much beloved 10. Of course, as I said earlier he didn't have a great script to work with and I don't know how much the director influenced Smith's performance. But, as I said before I am a Who whore and I really enjoyed it. Hey, it's great to have any Doctor Who on telly! I think Moffet needs to mature a bit as the head honcho for the show. He clearly has much talent but I don't think he's quite to the level that RTD was at when he left. I'm really looking forward to series 6. Ood! And more on the mystery of River Song! Overall this was probably the worst thing Moffet has written but everyone has off days, especially when he has so much responsibility on the side as executive producer and has so many episodes to his credit already. Roll on series 6!

the pen is mightier than the spork: Long term hopes and dreams

the pen is mightier than the spork: Long term hopes and dreams: "The lovely, manly, and powerful Paul Cornell is doing his Twelve Blogs of Christmas again, and I highly recommend that you go there and have..."

Things I could be doing instead of watching House

Anyone who knows me at all knows that one of my vices (?) is watching television. You don't arrive at the decision to be a screenwriter hating TV. Lately, with my crappy employment and living situations I spend most of my day watching reruns on USA. This network has the pleasantly comforting habit of showing marthons of some sort everyday, i.e. Monday NCIS all day, Tuesday SVU all day, etc and my favorite days are the House marathon days. Of course, I wouldn't be watching these shows if I didn't enjoy them but at some point at least once a day I ask myself how productive I could be if I didn't watch episodes that I'd already seen dozens of times. It's not like I don't have plenty of new things to watch/read/write. The RTD rejuvination of the Whoniverse alone provides many, many hours of episodes, behind-the-scene features and interviews. And what about exercising? Getting out in the sunshine from time to time (Granted, I could exercise while watching TV but I don't)? I think I shall start a little experiment today and (try to) turn off the TV and explore some other options (but no way am I giving up my daily Gilmore Girls fix. Some things are just sacread). Who knows? Maybe it is the one impediment preventing me from taking over the world! Narf!

Did this show make itself?

So, yeah.  I've already faltered on my vow to write a blog everyday.  Like so many events in my life this year the universe knocked me for a loop.  A friend died very unexpectedly, I had to pack up the remnants of my life with the same person for ten years who has now left, divorce papers arrived...it was just a sucky few days and that's all there is to it.  OK, this is my blog not my journal so lets move on the the subject of the day.  With my recent reminder that life is indeed very short and not having any place to be most days I have been refocusing on my writing.  I couldn't help but notice that most of the blogs/websites/books were based in the UK.  This might have something to do with the fact that all the screenwriters I am in contact with are based in the UK.  In all cases they are contacts I made at a con (Gallifrey 1, to be specific).  One of my absolute favorite things about this particular con is that so many of the guests are writers, directors, producers, etc. of Doctor Who and many other British dramas.  I am on the British Media Fan Track of one the biggest cons in the world, Dragon*Con and I take great pleasure and pride in this, but any writing panels/guests are reserved for novels and comic books.  This has a lot to due with the fact that screenwriters don't draw people the way that "celebrities" do, and the bigger the attendance the better quality of con that we can provide.  It's not that American writers are sub par (well, most of them anyway).  Some of the best shows ever made like House, The Closer, and Six Feet Under are made in the good ol' US of A, and they are popular but who amongst us can name the creator of House (It's David Shore, by the way)?  I guess what I'm saying is if you have a show or film that you really love, go look and see who wrote it.  Write them a letter or find out if they have a Facebook page or Twitter account and leave them an appreciative message.  Let the cons you attend know that you'd like to have them as guests. Trust me, in this industry appreciation is few and far between. 

No Words

I really don't want to write anything right now, but I promised myself that I would do this everyday. My friend Monte died today. That's all I have to say about that.

Social Network?

In this day and time if you don't have an account with Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace (or more likely, all three) you don't know what your friends or family are doing, can't network, can't find a date.  These so-called social networks are keeping us further and further apart.  I'll be the first to admit there are definite upsides to these sites.  Just yesterday I found my prom date on Facebook and though hesistant to use it I have accepted Twitter as a necessary evil in my life (although please, people-I don't need to know when you shower, eat or go to work.)  Everytime some of my Facebook friends and I get together we go on and on about how fun it is and promise how we're going to get together and call more often-cut to two months later and none of us have come through.  Why? Because what would we talk about.  Is your friend up for a promotion?  Just wait-they'll post what happened.  How was your cousin's vacation?  Don't worry, you'll get a full report with pictures as soon as they get home, if not during the actual vacation.  Hell, Facebook is so omnipresent that a movie about it's creation was number one at the box office.  A movie about a website, written by one of my writing heroes Aron Sorkin, no less and he doesn't touch anything that isn't culturally relevant.  Mind you, I'm not totally hating on the sites.  Having several friends who live overseas, I love how these sites allow us to communicate in real time without expensive phone bills, but nothing virtual will ever take the place of a few pints down at the pub.

What to write, what to write

Yeah, so all my screenwriting friends recommend writing as much as possible to help me improve as a writer and keep my creativity going.  I've decided (to try) to post a blog entry every day.  I'm not doing a whole lot right now other that job searching and watching House reruns so I don't know what I'll have to say.  I guess I can talk about looking for a job.  After months of slogging through ten medical billing courses I'm looking for the day job.  Besides the economy, I'm dealing with the vicious cycle of being turned down because I lack real world experience but how does one get experience without a job?  At least on the writing front, business is booming.  I'm anxiously awaiting my professional analysis of my screenplay, Mind the Gap.  I've discovered two good writing resources.  The first is an ebook called Making it as a Screenwriter, available for purchase at http://www.meadkerr.com/. The proceeds go to a charity and it was personally recommended to me by James Moran, who doesn't like any screenwriting book so it must be worth a glance.  The second is a website where writers of all sorts can read and critique each others work- http://www.triggerstreet.com/ .  In order to upload my text for reading I must first read four other works, so I have a lot of reading to do. Even though its a ton of work I really like this policy.  Similar exchange sites I have joined have yielded nothing.  Guess I better dive in!  See y'all tomorrow! :D

Do I really need to know what GTL means?

I was watching the rebroadcast of the VMA's today and wondering what bizarre world into which I had stepped.  Maybe I'm just on the road to being an old fuddy-duddy but I found it appalling that Justin Bieber beat out actual talented artists to receive Best New Artist, especially after his performance that was so obviously lip synced.  Don't get me wrong, there were some killer performances, my faves being Florence and the Machine and Taylor Swift, but has the music industry lowered it's standards so much that they think we would not just accept this crap but reward it?  Perhaps it is due to the fact that MTV no longer plays music videos.  I remember when the only reality show on MTV was The Real World but soon there was Road Rules, then the challenges and before we knew it TRL was gone.  The newest addition is Jersey Shore, with "stars" that are the incarnation of cheese whiz.  Every time I flip through the channels this tripe is on MTV, and seemingly every other channel.  There is just no avoiding it, no matter how much I'd wish to.  It is infuriating that this is what's keeping quality music and entertainment off the air.  Dammit, I want my MTV-like it was 10 years ago.

So you(r friend) thinks they can write

Throughout your travels in time and space you're likely to encounter a friend who has or is writing a book/screenplay/play/whatever else can be composed of the written word.  Although this may seem unimportant or a passing fancy to you and indeed it might be, how you react to this news is a very delicate thing.  First of all, and I can say this from personal experience realizing that you have a story to tell and that it might even be worth telling can be a massive, nay earth-shatterng thing.  Realizing that you want to make a career out of it is even more earth-shattering.  The problem is that like writing itself it is almost an entirely internal process and difficult for even the most caring friend to "get."  I once heard writing described as a world of narcicstic insecurity.  What this means is that in order to make the leap of writing something intended to be viewed by others and perhaps even paid for requires a certain amount of, shall we say self-confidence.  Where the whole situation gets a bit sticky is we writers tend to be horrendously insecure and need constant validation of our talent or at the very least our attempts and of course we begin within our comfort zone i.e. friends and family.  If you suddenly find yourself in the friend of writer category, here are few things we writers hate.  The first is when you tell a friend that you've decided  to write and the friend just replies with "Cool" or the like without any follow-up, as if they had just told you they bought a new t-shirt or had decided on the chicken.  Ask questions, give support and for God sakes don't talk about how unlikely success as a writer is.  Believe me, we know.  We're the ones who get the rejection letters.  Asking about the plot of the story is a good step towards interest but after hearing it don't say "oh, so it's just like (insert name of published work here).  There are no truly new stories and all writers "steal" from others in one way or another.  Even many of Shakespeare's plays were based in historical fact or local events.  It's the way the writer tells the story that is the most important and no writer wants weeks or months of their work diminished to a half-assed copy cat job. Although it is great for a writer's friends to be interested and involved in the writer's process don't ask to read their work if you don't plan on actually reading it and giving more of a critique than "It's good" or "I like it."  This goes double if the friend asked for your input.  Some people are uncomfortable doing this which is fine, just tell the writer don't take the work and put it aside.  In your mind you may just be too busy to read their work or avoiding an uncomfortable situation but in the writer friend's mind you read the work, hated it and are too afraid to tell them.  Like I said, we are an insecure bunch.  To sum up, if your friend is a writer than be a good writer's friend.