Author: lazloferran

Who Plays the Best Drunk in a Film?

It occurred to me the other day to do another vote – this time on the best drunk in a film. There must be loads but the funny thing is that I can’t remember too many off the top of my head. So suggestions please to add to my short list:

1. Walter Matthau in Earthquake (this is also definitely my funniest)
2. Lee Marvin in Paint Your Wagons
3. Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou (I’m still going to check out Paul Newman in The Sting though)
4. Paul Newman in The Hudsucker Proxy
5. Shelley Winters in Alfie
6. Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now (thanks for suggestion El’Phantasmo)
7. I forgot Nick Cage in Leaving Las Vegas
8. Embarrassing one this but Oliver Reed in Oliver! Okay, okay I know the film is a bit of old hokey’ but he really is very menacing – and he was Carol Reed’s nephew.
9. Okay – the butler in Dinner for One, although I am not sure I have seen this. I will look on youtube
10. Cary Grant in North by North West. Actually this is pretty good too.

I could add George Peppard in The Blue Max and indeed the book is about alcoholism but this is barely touched upon in the film.

Okay I think ten is enough. This time we will leave it 6 months before a final vote in case others come up and so that we have a chance to see some of the nominations we haven’t yet seen.

Experimenting with Adverts on my Blog

I am going to experiment a little bit monetising (as they say) my blog. It’s not that I am desperate for the cash or anything – just that I have an idea in the pipeline for a few years time and I want to understand better how this stuff works. At first I am just doing the ads to the right here, but may experiment with them in different places. If anybody feels they distract too much or are an irritation, let me know. If I feel they are, then I will remove them.

Flowers for Algernon Reviews

I finally got to read this wonderful little novel (read the novel and not the novella – my friend Gary informs me that the longer one is better) on holiday, and I have been pondering it before writing anything about it. I also saw the film afterwards, and I comment on that later:

Flowers for Algernon – The Novel

I must say this is the ideal book for the beach. Not only does it start off with very simple text: simple words and short sentences, but it is broken up into bite-sized chunks about half-page long. It couldn’t be easier. If you haven’t read the book, you will not know that this is because the text mainly consists of diary entries by Charly Gordon, an American with learning difficulties and subnormal intelligence, who is about to undergo an operation to make him clever. I have to say right away that it is a very touching book and in no way prejudiced or insensitive. Indeed its subject matter is a great source of pathos and humour and treated with great care by its author Daniel Keyes. Continue reading “Flowers for Algernon Reviews” →

Questionnaire for Cliff Robertson – final

As you may have seen from the comments on my original post, it looks like there is a more direct route to asking Cliff these questions that emailing the webmaster on his site. Steve Thompson contacted me and said he would pass the questions on to Cliff. So after some consultation among us, here are our final questions and the intro that I will send in a pdf letter to Cliff. Continue reading “Questionnaire for Cliff Robertson – final” →

Big Boots and Land of the Pharaohs

While on holiday in Spain I had one of those really pleasant serendipitous TV experiences that mark out my TV-watching career. My second or third post on this blog was about the films 633 Squadron and the original Wicker Man, both shown back to back just before New Year’s Day. While I didn’t anticipate these, I often do find myself wishing for films and then, sure enough, within days, they appear on TV.

I had just returned from the beach, had a sleep, had a pizza and loads of chocolate (as you do on holiday), put my feet up on the sofa and started scanning the channels for something to watch. It was about 9.55pm, Telecinco news ends, and most films start around about then. I flicked the channels and saw what looked like a parade in ancient Egypt. I thought, ‘Hmm, dodgy Spanish history programme’ because the colour was like Cinerama or something but no! It actually was the 1955 film Land of the Pharaohs. Only days before, just after I had arrived in Spain, I had laid on the bed and remembered this film. I thought, ‘What I really fancy right now is watching that old Pharaoh film. Been a long time since I saw it’. And now here it was. Continue reading “Big Boots and Land of the Pharaohs” →

Questionnaire for Cliff Robertson

Having watched a long interview with Cliff Robertson – one of my favourite actors, on youtube, I find I still have a lot of questions which it would be nice to hear him answer. He has a huge interest in aircraft and blogs regularly on the subject so I have decided to email him a list of questions. Of course there is only the very slimmest chance he will ever get them as I have to email the webmaster of the site but I think it’s worth a try. If anybody wants to add a question of change one slightly let me know before next Wednesday (20 October). This is what I intend to send in an email. Continue reading “Questionnaire for Cliff Robertson” →

Trying to Write High Medieval Poetry

Read two books on holiday in Spain (well actually I am still struggling through the second):
1. Strong of Body, Brave and Noble: Chivalry and Society in Medieval France
by Constance Brittain Bouchard (Paperback)

2. Out of Love for My Kin: Aristocratic Family Life in the Lands of the Loire, 1000-1200 – Hardcover (Apr. 15, 2010) by Amy Livingstone

Both are about the High Medieval (11th-12th century) period in France. The first is great: it reads like a ripping yarn and is full of quotes from the romantic poets of the time and the author’s witty and wry take on male/female relationships at the time. She takes the view (which I agree with) that although women were probably highly repressed at the time they still managed to find ways to express themselves and cope with the world leaving their sanity in tact. Of course I am not an expert about the period but her examples seem to validate her ideas. Continue reading “Trying to Write High Medieval Poetry” →

Making Savage Cuts as an Editor

Well, I have had to savage my own book – not by reviews but by cutting. The other night I had had enough of the younger readers complaining that the first 2 chapters were a bit slow so I took an axe to it and cut from 40,000 words down to just 25,000. Gone are some of my beloved sections on Bulgaria and the second world war and the childhood and wartime romances are reduced to just one line. Now the story starts with the murder of the main protagonist’s daughter. It seems a bit weird reading it back, stripped-down as it is but I think once I get used to it, it will probably be better. It certainly has producing some interesting effects. A reverie now lasts more than one chapter – unusual, but I am sure there are precedents.

Ah well, the main problem is the people who have already bought it. I have offered to send manuscripts of the new, shorter chapters to them. I also pointed out that they have read the Extended Version of the first Edition. I am also considering doing a different cover for the Kindle version.

Two Short Stories – Work in Progress

I am up to chapter 3 now doing basic corrections of Iron/Too Bright the Sun. It’s going well and frankly, haven’t found too much in the basic plot or narrative sweep to change – at least in a big way. I can think of a few things that might add depth, and one or two details that will be useful if there is a sequel, which I am developing ideas for.

Somebody has told me that Henry’s Car is very funny, which I am really pleased about. I really tried to go for belly laughs and it seems I may have achieved this, at least in a few places.

Lacunashka (lacuna: an empty space or something missing, -ashka: Russian diminutive for male names) is much deeper. Very dark – in fact the darkest thing I have ever written. The same person who liked Henry’s Car said he was so depressed by Lacunashka that he was going to watch Schindler’s list to cheer him up. Ha! Ha!

Oh yes and from somebody else’s suggestion I removed the frame from the front cover (only on the Kindle version) of Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate just to see if that helps it to sell. I must admit, after all the problems I had getting the frame on there, it does look quite good without it. I also dropped the price to $2.98 for a while just too see how it fares.

Thats all for now.

These are my Latest Updates

I haven’t had much time to post recently. Yesterday most people I sent freebies of Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate received them in the post (I sent out 10 copies) including my parents. Most seem to like the look of it. Still not sure about the cover. There is some dissension so I may try changing it slightly on the kindle version to see if it has any effect.

In the mean time work continues on Iron/Too Bright the Sun. I am thinking now that it does lend itself to being a trilogy and perhaps that’s why I cannot decide on the title. Perhaps the series should be called the Iron Trilogy and the first book would be Too Bright the Sun. In any case I am getting ideas for the second volume. I need to spend some time working through them in my mind to see if they are viable.

I do really want to understand why Inchoate sells so well. I think it is a combination of the choppy, fast paced dialogue and narrative combined with the viewpoint of a delinquent adolescent, and perhaps the theme of sci-fi, religion and time travel.