Reading: Eightball collection, by Dan Clowes
Music: NPR
TV/Movie: Grosse Point Blank
Link o' the Day: Weather.com - National and Local Forecast, Hurricane, Radar and Report

So a weird past day somewhat. I've come down with a cold--the sore throat/cough variety and am not feeling at my top game--but have been pretty dang productive, work-wise. I pulled a long session early yesterday morning and knocked out the rest of the edits to The Trustus Plays by Jon Tuttle for InTelect Books, then gathered the last strands of issue #180 of the SFWA Bulletin and got that delivered to the printer yesterday. I finished touching up the photos for the Hardcastle & McCormick book, then this morning inserted the photos for The Trustus Plays and started the layout for Hardcastle & McCormick.

All the pieces tumble into place amidst coughs and sneezes. Go figure.



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So is Grosse Point Blank a great movie or what? I mean--hell--I've watched (or read the script to) this thing maybe fity, maybe a hundred times and I still get a kick out it. It's a dynamite script. Great dialogue. Impelling plot. Three-dimensional characters. Easily one of the best movie soundtracks around and one of the very few I own.

And it's a movie that can be enjoyed by nearly everyone, I think. Even kids. Yes. Kids.

Speaking of kids and movies, I saw, for the first time, the movie version of The Basketball Diaries and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I've read the book about a dozen times. It's one of my favorites. And I think that's why I avoided the movie for so long. I saw pretty-boy DiCaprio playing Jim Carroll and was a-feared that it would turn into some kind of tragic teeny-bopper kind of flick.

Nope. While not as gritty and dark as say...Trainspotting it skillfully depicted the harrowing life of a heroin addict. It didn't flinch much from the sexual topics, and it didn't pull many punches with the various youthful deaths. Life in the city, and so forth. I will hand it to DiCaprio--he did a great job depicting Carroll. Shout-outs also to Mark Wahlberg who continues to impress me.

Speaking of Wahlberg...I watched I Heart Huckabees again recently as well. Another fantastic movie, although a bit slower than the other two I mention this morning. This has a very impressive cast who all do a fantastic job. Mark Wahlberg, Dustin Hoffman, Lilly Tomlin, Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, and Naomi Watts. Pretty decent music too. It's... it's an existential mystery, it's a philosophical farce, it's...it's as if Camus and Sarte got into a pie fight.

Huh. Well, you see it and decide.

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In questionable honor of the storms battering the northeastern United States, I give you Weather.com - National and Local Forecast, Hurricane, Radar and Report, Aside from weather reports and related articles, there's an "On This Day" feature with some interesting trivia, moon news, and damage reports.

Certainly worth a look.

Cheers!