Flavours of the Month: November 2017...

Space bums, dimension-jumping duos, voices from the past, and A Sideline In Vengeance - just some of what's been setting the tone this month...

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Weenie Talk Edition: The Walking Dead 8x05 Memes...

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We're into the second half of Season 8A now, and All Out War continues apace. This was a really good episode - so much going on - a very satisfying watch. Numerous pairings of characters faced off with each other with so many implications teased, setup, or averted (for now), plus the paranoia of a potential power vacuum (like the crumbling of a nation behind the Iron Curtain) made for much tension and entertainment. Quite possibly my favourite episode of the season thus far.

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Click to Enlarge: Weenie talk all over the shop...

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Tales of Times Square: The Tapes (podcast)...

Recently I came across a new podcast called Tales of Times Square: The Tapes, which details the sleazy world of New York's old Broadway before the Disneyfication of the area occurred in the 1990s. The podcast takes the form of old cassette tape interviews with various figures from the era, from big time adult stars to well-known denizens - colourful characters and behind-the-scenes raconteurs - all of whom were interviewed for Josh Alan Friedman's superb book Tales of Times Square (available from all good stockists - I highly recommend reading it).

Punctuated by music, reminiscences, and background details from Friedman himself - along with some new tales that were never published in the book (on account of the statute of limitations, you can't help but wonder) - each episode is a brisk and fascinating detour to a version of New York's theatre district that once was. The release schedule seems to be weekly on Wednesday/Thursday. Find more info on the podcast HERE.

Cold Blooded Beast (Fernando Di Leo, 1971) Blu-Ray Review

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“How nice to be sent to a famous loony bin!” Straddling the lines between the gialli thrillers and softcore romps that were so popular with mainstream audiences in Italy during the 1970s, Fernando (Milano Calibro 9) Di Leo's skin 'n' kills movie Cold Blooded Beast (otherwise known as Slaughter Hotel) features a bevy of beautiful women inflagranti and in peril, as well as Werner Herzog's notorious performer Klaus Kinski…

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Sharyl Edition: The Walking Dead 8x03 Memes...

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Couldn't think of any for last week's episode, but did this week. Enjoying Season 8 so far, off to a good action-packed start with plenty of moral murk to sink your teeth into. Digging it.

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Click to Enlarge: Cockroaches and Politicians in the post-apocalypse...

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Return to "Vengeance"...

The last time I worked on "A Sideline In Vengeance" (a conspiracy thriller screenplay) was over a year ago. Naturally, in that time I've been doing a lot of writing - what with For Want Of A Nail (currently in the editing stage - and I've seen the rough cut), as well as Murder at the Grindhouse (out of which I've also crafted a 'TV pilot' screenplay in the last few weeks).

When you come back to something you wrote a while back you invariably find new changes to make. When I last set eyes on the script I had no further ideas on how to work it - I'd gone as far as I could at that point in time. Now, though, it's a different story. I've got a list of tweaks I want to make - but first: the red pen comes out!

Where once was cleanly printed pages, now lies a wash of red ink (sometimes it's nice to be able to refer back to to editing process in this 'analogue' way, something which you lose when editing a document ... this way you get to see your mental process around your writing). I'm picking my way through the script line-by-line making initial changes and generally hacking out dialogue that I thought was necessary at the time, but now no longer need. It'll be interesting to see what happens to the page count when I apply all of these initial 'red pen on the paper' changes and cuts. More on this as-and-when...