Things, Stuff and Miscellany
Sep. 23rd, 2007 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thessalianIt's not, I'll admit, been a very eventful week. Hence the total lack of entries and so forth. There's been JusNoctis sceneage (notably yesterday - man, that was fun) and JusNoctis bullshit (I love most of the players but some I am at the point of wanting to punt out windows. High windows. With spiky-soled boots) and Sims 2 Bon Voyage (building hotels takes forever) and grinding away on my Cookery skill on FFXI (52.5 and climbing) and ... y'know, stuff. Still, it's stuff I could whitter on about for ages and not really interest anyone - myself included - so I'll just leave it at 'things, stuff and miscellany'.
Next week is going to be a welter of agency nagging and other associated phone calls, but I'm not going to think about that just today because, y'know, it's Sunday and there's not a lot I can do about it on a day when all the agencies are closed anyway.
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wingedkami, one of my recently added JusNoctis friends, has actually given the film version of 1408 a good review. I've heard worryingly bad reviews of that one, but trust my friends so it might be worth a look after all. Probably on DVD, though - while I do like seeing things at the cinema, it does tend to trigger migraines at the best of times, so a film that's bound to be a lot of heavy visual effects and strobe stuff is probably a bad idea on the big screen, at least for me. If I'm going to see something like that, I have to be 100% sure it's worth the headache I'm going to walk away with. Silent Hill 2, assuming it comes out, is a definite. Saw 4? Probably. The Mist? HELL YES. And likely the next Harry Potter, as those do seem to be getting better. But not something that gets mixed reviews of that type. Then again, some of these reviews may well come from Stephen King purists, but...
On the whole, the stuff of King's that seems to work best on the big screen are the short stories and novellas. Or, in the case of The Green Mile, serials. I think this has something to do with King having what the author himself refers to as 'diarrhoea of the word processor'. When he does a short story, novella or serial, he has to restrict himself to just what's needed to get the point across. He gets into the heads of the characters, sure, but he only has them acting, for the most part, not showing the mental math, as it were - not showing what's going on in the character's heads but letting the author decide that for themselves based on what's going on. Whereas in a full-on novel, where he can write what he wants, there tends to be a lot more internalisation and some of it's gratuitous but sometimes he lets the whole novel hinge on it, which makes it hard to actually put it on the big screen, where all the audience can experience is the action.
All told, I've been thinking about this since finally finishing 'Lisey's Story' (yes, it was a Christmas present fromweaselbitch last year and I only finished it a couple of weeks ago, but after the disappointment with 'Cell', it took me awhile to want to touch the damn thing). I do like Stephen King, to a point. I like some of his early stuff. I like some of his later stuff when he got off the booze and cocaine. I like the Dark Tower series, and most of his short stories and novellas, and I adore the Bachman books. However, I really do think that the man is losing his touch - or maybe his grip. I know he's made a lot of money and can now write whatever he wants, and I can respect and admire that to a point. However, even if you're writing exactly what you want, I'd think anyone who's been writing as long as he has would remember that he still has an audience. I like to think that if I ever become a successful author, I will not think, "Eh, they'll read it or not as they like" when I'm writing something. While I agree that one should write for one's self, I can't imagine not thinking, "I hope [reader] likes it..." or "I wonder what [reader] will think of this..." or something. Writing for one's self and then handing it to an audience seems a little masturbatory, honestly. So I'm not really sure I'm a Stephen King fan anymore. Except I am, because there's a lot of his stuff I still love. What do you call it, when you used to love an author and still do in a way but wish to God he'd stop already because he's getting annoying?
Well. First time back on LJ in over a week and all I can do is whitter about Stephen King. Go, me.
Next week is going to be a welter of agency nagging and other associated phone calls, but I'm not going to think about that just today because, y'know, it's Sunday and there's not a lot I can do about it on a day when all the agencies are closed anyway.
wingedkami, one of my recently added JusNoctis friends, has actually given the film version of 1408 a good review. I've heard worryingly bad reviews of that one, but trust my friends so it might be worth a look after all. Probably on DVD, though - while I do like seeing things at the cinema, it does tend to trigger migraines at the best of times, so a film that's bound to be a lot of heavy visual effects and strobe stuff is probably a bad idea on the big screen, at least for me. If I'm going to see something like that, I have to be 100% sure it's worth the headache I'm going to walk away with. Silent Hill 2, assuming it comes out, is a definite. Saw 4? Probably. The Mist? HELL YES. And likely the next Harry Potter, as those do seem to be getting better. But not something that gets mixed reviews of that type. Then again, some of these reviews may well come from Stephen King purists, but...On the whole, the stuff of King's that seems to work best on the big screen are the short stories and novellas. Or, in the case of The Green Mile, serials. I think this has something to do with King having what the author himself refers to as 'diarrhoea of the word processor'. When he does a short story, novella or serial, he has to restrict himself to just what's needed to get the point across. He gets into the heads of the characters, sure, but he only has them acting, for the most part, not showing the mental math, as it were - not showing what's going on in the character's heads but letting the author decide that for themselves based on what's going on. Whereas in a full-on novel, where he can write what he wants, there tends to be a lot more internalisation and some of it's gratuitous but sometimes he lets the whole novel hinge on it, which makes it hard to actually put it on the big screen, where all the audience can experience is the action.
All told, I've been thinking about this since finally finishing 'Lisey's Story' (yes, it was a Christmas present from
weaselbitch last year and I only finished it a couple of weeks ago, but after the disappointment with 'Cell', it took me awhile to want to touch the damn thing). I do like Stephen King, to a point. I like some of his early stuff. I like some of his later stuff when he got off the booze and cocaine. I like the Dark Tower series, and most of his short stories and novellas, and I adore the Bachman books. However, I really do think that the man is losing his touch - or maybe his grip. I know he's made a lot of money and can now write whatever he wants, and I can respect and admire that to a point. However, even if you're writing exactly what you want, I'd think anyone who's been writing as long as he has would remember that he still has an audience. I like to think that if I ever become a successful author, I will not think, "Eh, they'll read it or not as they like" when I'm writing something. While I agree that one should write for one's self, I can't imagine not thinking, "I hope [reader] likes it..." or "I wonder what [reader] will think of this..." or something. Writing for one's self and then handing it to an audience seems a little masturbatory, honestly. So I'm not really sure I'm a Stephen King fan anymore. Except I am, because there's a lot of his stuff I still love. What do you call it, when you used to love an author and still do in a way but wish to God he'd stop already because he's getting annoying?Well. First time back on LJ in over a week and all I can do is whitter about Stephen King. Go, me.
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no subject
Date: 2007-09-23 05:57 pm (UTC)YOU'VE LOST - THAT LOOOOVIN' FEEE-EEELIN'
WHOOAA-OOAAA THAT LOOOOVIN' FEEE-EEELIN'
*giggles, runs away*
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Date: 2007-09-23 06:05 pm (UTC)