Image courtesy of Rover.com
Awards:
File 770 shares the British Fantasy Award winners; Jen Williams took the award for Best Fantasy for The Bitter Twins; Little Eve won Catriona Ward the Best Horror Novel awards, and Aliette de Bodard took Best Novella for The Tea Master and The Detective.
Books and Writing:
For anyone who has a bucket list, here’s something to add: Stephen and Tabitha King’s house will become a museum, archive and writers retreat.
John Connelly who writes supernatural detective thrillers, writes about the supernatural’s place in detective fiction for Crimereads. It’s a great essay and that photo is an added treat.
This is from a year ago; a 1300-year-old book was found in the tomb of St Cuthbert. It is the oldest English codex found so far.
Here is some information on Oddysey’s winter online classes.
Judges of the Booker Prize flouted the rules and awarded it to both Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo; for The Testaments and Girl, Woman, Other respectively.
Movies and TV:
This Christmas, the ninth film in the original Star Wars trilogy comes out, leaving us all plenty to anticipate/be indignant about, depending on our camp. At Tor.com, Daisy Ridley talks briefly about “toxic relationships” and the pairing of “Reylo.” Then there’s a trailer.
HBO provides a landing site for the curious about its upcoming adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.
Work goes forward on BBC’s adaptation of one set of Discworld stories: The Night Watch. This article talks about general casting. I am disappointed in the interpretation of Lady Sybil.
Continuing with the “watch” theme, the Mary Sue shares some critics’ comments about HBOs other big adaptation, Watchmen.
Black Girl Nerds reports that after John Cho suffered a knee injury on set, Netflix has suspended its production of the Cowboy Bebop remake pending Cho’s recovery.
I’m not advertising this pillow, I just liked it. Image from Amazon.com
A Kerfuffle:
You probably all know that Martin Scorsese said in an interview that he doesn’t like the Marvel superhero movies. Later, he apparently amplified those remarks and explained what he doesn’t like about them. Not to be left out, wine purveyor* and Godfather-director Francis Ford Coppola weighed in recently, supporting Scorsese (who really doesn’t need supporting; he’s entitled to his opinion,) and being even meaner to those billion-dollar-grossing atrocities that should not be allowed to claim the category of “movies.” John Scalzi, who is a former film reviewer, stepped into the fray to defend the movies (which don’t really need defending; they made billions). I missed all of this while it was happening because I was reading Sandy Ferber’s Shocktober movie reviews.
Our Lives Now:
When I was younger, of all the etiquette needs I thought the future might bring, here’s one I never imagined: The “You Got a Shocking DNA Result” response. For that friend who suddenly discovers that their family isn’t what they imagined, here are ten things not to say.
Internet:
Please enjoy this 2.18 minute time-lapse video of pumpkin carving, courtesy of Jon Neill.
Disney theme parks will now offer Rise of the Resistance, a Star Wars mega-ride comprising four different modes of ride, starting in December.
Footnote:
*I am not being sarcastic when I say Francis Ford Coppola is a purveyor of fine wines. He has a lovely, theme-park-like winery near where I live.
I know a few people who’ve had some shocking DNA results experiences but most have welcomed the news that they had, for example, half-siblings they didn’t know about.
I have a couple of friends who discovered half-siblings. I think the specific issue that comes up is finding out that your dad is not your biological father.
Ah, okay. Not shocking as in, “You’re actually a lemur!”
No, not that shocking, and the article didn’t really give any tips on what to say to the “You’re actually a lemur!” revelation.
Scorsese and Coppola ought to perform a refresher on their film history. I mean how many versions of Judy and Mickey put on a show in a barn was there in the Golden Age of Cinema? How many times did Johnny Weissmuller have to don that loincloth and swing through the jungle trees (and others like him)? How many times did Esther Williams have to jump in the pool to do a water ballet, perfectly smiling in spangly outfits? How many times did Bogart have to play a gangster? How many times did Abbot and Costello have to meet a monster? How many times did Crosby and Hope have to travel to some remote location for some pretty absurd comedy?
Yes in the 1970s movies were edgy and pushed the button and they (Scorsese and Coppola) were the forefront of that movement. Before, during that Golden Age of Hollywood, Hollywood was considered “The Dream Factory” and the studio system churned out film after film after film as if it were an assembly line. Maybe Hollywood is just returning to this factory mentality. Perhaps (not to get too political here) were in a similar state in this country as was in the 1930s and 1940s and we need similar diverting entertainment to take away our care and woes for just a short three hours.
I admire Scorsese and I tend to think his comments were genuine, whether I agree or not. Honestly, with Coppola, I strongly believe his remarks stemmed from a desire to get attention. That’s probably not fair but I just can’t get past it.