Donald Westlake interview
Nov 21The Onion AV Club has an excellent interview with mystery novelist Donald Westlake.
AVC: One school of thought says that “American crime novel” is essentially a working-class genre.
DW: I think it is. The British were doing [crime stories] first, but the British thing is a very different thing. There, the stories are about restoring a break in the fabric of society. The American thing has never been worrying about breaks in the fabric of society, but about people doing their job, whether it’s police procedurals or criminals or whatever. Yeah, that is working-class. Although there’s another thing—years ago, there was a director who going to make a movie from a Richard Stark novel. It never happened, but in our discussions at one point he said, “You know, you write like a Frenchman.” I said, “What does that mean?” He said, “In American mystery novels, the bank robber robs the bank to pay for the operation for the little girl in the wheelchair. In French novels, the bank robber robs banks because he robs banks. You write like a Frenchman.” I said, “I’ll take it.”
Matt, tell Hockensmith to hurry up on his third book – if the second is out in March, I’ll be looking for something new to read by April.
Ow. Ow. My side hurts. Stitches. Ow.
Nov 20
I don’t know what to say. I can’t stop laughing.
This is how you do it.
Nov 20When I made a space game, we immeadiately decided that our trailers would have a rock track – all other space games seemed to thing you had to have an orchestra pushing the majesty of space, so we went another way. And while there were a satisfying handful of people who complained (“That’s NOT appropriate music for this type of game”), thus cementing our decision, there was a lot of “that’s awesome – thank god, no strings in space.”
But that was small, that was web-based. Imagine just how happy I was when I spotted the Gears of War commercial on TV.
So perfect – visually we follow the war-weary hero through the rubble of a now-dead city, and the Tears for Fears lyrics fill in the blanks.
Will the real Michael Jackson career please stand up?
Nov 16I’m neither a hater, nor a lover of Michael Jackson. Actually, I regret I said, “lover of Michael Jackson”, but it’s too late to go back. You know what I mean. I mean, I’ve never slept with Michael Jackson. Or gone all screamy girly over his music.
I will admit, Thriller was my first album purchase. Other albums would follow, mostly Wierd Al or Alan Parsons-based, but I also picked up Off the Wall. Those two were the the funk to my young ears, the proud succesors to everything git-down git-down I’d listened to on 70s AM radio. Then I bought The Jackson’s Victory album, and listened the shit out of that one. Then I stopped listening. Things got more pop and less funky from that point on and I wasn’t interested.
So, it’s with a certain bewildered sadness that I watch the seeminly insane decline of Michael (that’s Mr. Jackson, if you’re nasty.) No doubt about it, dude’s imploding. Anybody that doesn’t think fame is cancerous should have a look at this man – it’s pretty much eaten him alive, and it’s going back for a second helping of Latoya.
At the same time, I’m starting to notice a big hater push in the media – and it took the internet to help me see it. So, the word at New Music Express is that Michael’s big come-back performance at the World Music Awards (sort of like the World Series of baseball, wherein most of the world doesn’t actually get to play) was a non-starter, as he performed We Are the World instead of Thriller (a change for the thematic better, one might say, as well as topical), he couldn’t hit the high notes (this is in fact true) and he was booed off the stage…
…or not. You Tube tells a front row story, from the fan perspective. They’re screaming for him, “Michael, you rule!” is heard at one point, and after he leaves to the sounds of non-stop cheering, someone recites the mantra of “He’s coming back. He’ll come back out again.” So, the music press thinks he bombed. The masses love him. It sounds like the booing NME heard was coming from the press pit.
Don’t hate a playah! Let the man wither in peace, you bastards.
