Monday Randomness
First things first. Brett Battles, J.T. Ellison, Sandra Ruttan and I are hard at work designing the www.KillerYear.com website. We have the skeleton ready, but I've found that me trying to create a fun, interactive website is like a penguin trying to make an omelet. Fortunately our collective brainpower will overcome this obstacle (either that or we'll start drooling and end up friends with the men in white coats).
We have set an official launch date, however, of June 19th, when the site will be fully active with the first blog posted. We're all incredibly excited and trust us, a lot of thought is going into this. Again if you are an author whose debut crime novel (i.e. mystery, thriller, romantic suspense, etc...) is being published in 2007, go to www.killeryear.com/join.html to see how you can become a member of the class of 2007.
Anyway a few random thoughts...
Finished Joseph Finder's COMPANY MAN over the weekend. Enjoyed it overall, moreso than PARANOIA, though it could have used someone taking a machete and lopping off 150 pages. The best stuff for me was the description of a regular guy, Nick Conover, who's the CEO of the biggest company in a small town. Because half the town has been laid off, Nick has been christened Satan, and his entire family is affected by it (think Gene Hackman's character in "The Quick and the Dead," only as a decent fella).
Started Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's BRIMSTONE yesterday. I loved CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, and have been looking forward to starting the Pendergast trilogy (BRIMSTONE, DANCE OF DEATH, THE BOOK OF THE DEAD). So far so good. Pendergast is a very different protagonist than we see in most mysteries and thrillers, and Preschild (as I call them) imbue their books with the perfect amount of detail to make things interesting without bogging down the story.
Watched the season debut of "Entourage" on demand this morning. Really enjoyed it, and was disappointed when it was over. You know a show is good when the screen fades to black and you're like, "Damn."
Things I like about "Entourage":
All the characters feel lived in, the kind of characters that are written so well you honestly believe the actors behave like them off camera.
There's never a dull moment. Every episode is complete fun. Except for last season, when Mandy Moore's guest appearance nearly derailed the entire show. She was the ultimate wet blanket in a show that cannot exist with a wet blanket. Every time she was on screen, I imagined her agent cashing in all his favors saying, "We need to get Mandy on this show! It's hip! It's edgy! It'll totally change her image from a teenybopper into a hot young starlet!" No dice. She was horrible. Let's move on before I get angry.
I can only take one scene per episode where Vince walks into a ridiculously expensive store and says, "I'll take one of everything."
Don't you feel like 'E' sometimes? Having to play mediator to that one friend who's so impetuous that without you they'd probably walk into traffic?
Women are written pretty terribly on the show. Shauna is basically a female Ari (without the great lines). Though I kind of liked Sloane at the end of last season, I hope there's more of her. And when did Ari's wife get a trust fund? Their best banter was him having to answer the "Batphone" in order to pay for her 6-week vacations in the south of France.
I'm also hoping Lloyd gets an opportunity to do more than just be the racial/ethnic slur trash recepticle. After his great "Even guys in the mailroom have Wharton MBAs" speech last year, I think he could become Ari's version of 'E', always pulling him back before he leaps over the edge.
The James Woods cameo seemed a little unnecessary (though it is funny that Johnny Drama seems to have some sort of history with everybody).
Best exchange ever, in the first season when Johnny Drama is meeting his (young, inexperienced) agent for the first time:
Adam Davies: When Ari told me Vince's brother was looking for an agent, I assumed he meant Vince's younger brother.
Johnny Drama: Well biologically I am older, but physically and mentally we're the same age.
And now interactive fun...I liked that Penguin/Omelet metaphor, but there has to be better ones out there. Now everybody try, what's the strangest metaphor you can think of?
First things first. Brett Battles, J.T. Ellison, Sandra Ruttan and I are hard at work designing the www.KillerYear.com website. We have the skeleton ready, but I've found that me trying to create a fun, interactive website is like a penguin trying to make an omelet. Fortunately our collective brainpower will overcome this obstacle (either that or we'll start drooling and end up friends with the men in white coats).
We have set an official launch date, however, of June 19th, when the site will be fully active with the first blog posted. We're all incredibly excited and trust us, a lot of thought is going into this. Again if you are an author whose debut crime novel (i.e. mystery, thriller, romantic suspense, etc...) is being published in 2007, go to www.killeryear.com/join.html to see how you can become a member of the class of 2007.
Anyway a few random thoughts...
Finished Joseph Finder's COMPANY MAN over the weekend. Enjoyed it overall, moreso than PARANOIA, though it could have used someone taking a machete and lopping off 150 pages. The best stuff for me was the description of a regular guy, Nick Conover, who's the CEO of the biggest company in a small town. Because half the town has been laid off, Nick has been christened Satan, and his entire family is affected by it (think Gene Hackman's character in "The Quick and the Dead," only as a decent fella).
Started Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's BRIMSTONE yesterday. I loved CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, and have been looking forward to starting the Pendergast trilogy (BRIMSTONE, DANCE OF DEATH, THE BOOK OF THE DEAD). So far so good. Pendergast is a very different protagonist than we see in most mysteries and thrillers, and Preschild (as I call them) imbue their books with the perfect amount of detail to make things interesting without bogging down the story.
Watched the season debut of "Entourage" on demand this morning. Really enjoyed it, and was disappointed when it was over. You know a show is good when the screen fades to black and you're like, "Damn."
Things I like about "Entourage":
All the characters feel lived in, the kind of characters that are written so well you honestly believe the actors behave like them off camera.
There's never a dull moment. Every episode is complete fun. Except for last season, when Mandy Moore's guest appearance nearly derailed the entire show. She was the ultimate wet blanket in a show that cannot exist with a wet blanket. Every time she was on screen, I imagined her agent cashing in all his favors saying, "We need to get Mandy on this show! It's hip! It's edgy! It'll totally change her image from a teenybopper into a hot young starlet!" No dice. She was horrible. Let's move on before I get angry.
I can only take one scene per episode where Vince walks into a ridiculously expensive store and says, "I'll take one of everything."
Don't you feel like 'E' sometimes? Having to play mediator to that one friend who's so impetuous that without you they'd probably walk into traffic?
Women are written pretty terribly on the show. Shauna is basically a female Ari (without the great lines). Though I kind of liked Sloane at the end of last season, I hope there's more of her. And when did Ari's wife get a trust fund? Their best banter was him having to answer the "Batphone" in order to pay for her 6-week vacations in the south of France.
I'm also hoping Lloyd gets an opportunity to do more than just be the racial/ethnic slur trash recepticle. After his great "Even guys in the mailroom have Wharton MBAs" speech last year, I think he could become Ari's version of 'E', always pulling him back before he leaps over the edge.
The James Woods cameo seemed a little unnecessary (though it is funny that Johnny Drama seems to have some sort of history with everybody).
Best exchange ever, in the first season when Johnny Drama is meeting his (young, inexperienced) agent for the first time:
Adam Davies: When Ari told me Vince's brother was looking for an agent, I assumed he meant Vince's younger brother.
Johnny Drama: Well biologically I am older, but physically and mentally we're the same age.
And now interactive fun...I liked that Penguin/Omelet metaphor, but there has to be better ones out there. Now everybody try, what's the strangest metaphor you can think of?
posted by Jason Pinter at
8:11 AM
2 Comments:
Hey, Jason. I'm with you on Entourage--very addictive show. Sat down and pretty much watched the whole second season this weekend, thanks to On Demand.
(The comic book geek in me loved the Aquaman stuff, too.)
I enjoyed COMPANY MAN. I agree it was long, but I read it in two sittings. My main beef with the book was with the identity of the killer, which was really predictable.
I haven't read PARANOIA, but St. Martins is pretty much giving that book away these days, so I should probably pick it up.
Pendergast rocks. This is one of the rare series where I buy a book primarily for the character, instead of the plots, which are often disappointing.
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