A Day to Remember

Writehandpalm notes the passing of Roy Ward Baker, director of such classics as The Vampire Lovers and And Now The Screaming Starts. He also made some good films, amongst the lurid titty-tastic Hammer pap, such as Quatermass and the Pit (Demonic bugs from Mars infest the London underground) and a Titanic movie, A Night to Remember. James Cameron paid him a supreme compliment by lifting several scenes and staging directly from Baker's 1958 film for his own effort, though he rather foolishly added in some hogwash about Jack and Rose and a diamond necklace. Baker had the right idea, and produced a straightforward, almost docu-drama account.

He was still directing for TV until the the 90s, having moved backwards and forwards between film and TV throughout his career. In the 60s, he directed episodes of The Avengers and The Saint, and the original Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased).

RIP Edwin Morgan

Having made off with literary critic and scholar Frank Kermode yesterday, the Grim Reaper bagged Scottish poet Edwin Morgan, today:

Morgan, who was born in Glasgow in 1920, was recognised internationally as one of the great poets of the 20th century and his fame grew largest late in life. Winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, in 2004 he was appointed "Scots Makar", in effect Scotland's poet laureate, with his poetry widely taught in Scotland's schools.

He passed away at his care home in Glasgow, after a bout of pneumonia, but he had been battling prostate cancer since 1999. When he was diagnosed, his doctor told him he could live six months, or six years. Famously, he replied: "I will take the six years, thank you".

Morgan lived another decade, and went on to write Gorgon and Beau, a poem about the disease and the battle between healthy and cancerous cells.

Back to work

Tonight, I wrote 500 words of The great unnamed Story I Have Been Working On Since June. This is the first thing I've written since Nano, due to all sorts of reasons. It was scheduled - I'd set the date of the 3rd of January as the date I'd start again, and just forced myself to sit down and write.

500 words isn't very much, and they weren't very good, but it is a start. And i'm amazed at the quality of what I wrote back in September-October. It is outstanding, even if I do say so myself.

Of course, at the time I thought it was rubbish, just like I think what I wrote tonight was rubbish. But that isn't important. I can see the end of this story. It makes sense. It works. I'm really quite excited.

The books I read in 2010

1. Nostromo by Joseph Conrad. Treasure, revolution, thwarted love, madness and incomparable structural manipulation by the Old Man of the Seas. ****
2. If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino. Over-rated book about books that tries to hard to be clever and succeeds only in irritating. *
3. Wicked Beyond Belief by Michael Bilton. The hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. Grim but compelling, slightly marred by the author's clumsy style. **
4. The Climb Up To Hell by Jack Olsen. Account of a disastrous attempt on the Eiger's North face. The first half is riveting, the second less so. **
5. The End Of Iraq by Peter Galbraith. Dissection of Why It Went Wrong. Overstays its welcome, slightly, but contains a lot of important information. **
6. Henry VI, Part One by William Shakespeare. One of Will's least liked and least played works. Much of it may be the work of collaborators. No star
7. Henry VI, Part Two by William Shakespeare. Enthralling account of the War of the Roses. Diffuse, just lacks the impact of the best tragedies. ***
8. The Alienist by Caleb Carr. Maladroit 19th century psychological murder mystery. Pretentious, witless, and incompetently executed. No star
9. Henry VI, Part Three by William Shakespeare. The climax of the War of the Roses. Not as good as part Two, but still remarkable. **
10. Three Who Made a Revolution by Bertram D. Wolfe. Big, painstaking triple biography of Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin up to 1914. ***
11. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson. Witty, but too short to give an idea of his accomplishment to newcomers, or deliver new insights. *
12. The Penguin History of New Zealand by Michael King. Popular history of God's Own Country. Wide in scope but shallow in analysis. **
13. A Philosophical Investigation by Philip Kerr. Poorly executed murder mystery in dystopian London. No star
14. Real World by Natsuo Kirino. Murder disrupts the solipsistic lives of Japanese teenagers. Starts well but seems to lose its way towards the end. *
15. Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse. The bombing of Hiroshima and the ending of an entire way of looking at the world. Long and slow, but potent. **
16. A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter. Witlessly plotted multi-murder mystery, and nasty to boot. AVOID
    
17. Give the boys a Great Big Hand, by Ed McBain. Fine dialogue & characters. Plot an afterthought to hanging with the boys on the 87th precinct. *
18. Cypress Grove by James Sallis. Murder mystery that strives to be big on atmosphere and setting and character, but is fatally short on plot. No Star
19. If This is a Man by Primo Levi. Levi's account of his time in Auschwitz. ****
20. The President We Deserve by Martin Walker. Bill Clinton's early life, political rise in Arkansas and his first term. Little insight, but adequate. No star
21. Infinite Loop by Michael Malone. The story of Apple Computers. Gargantuan ego, genius, madness, venality, incompetence and decadence. Astonishing. ****
22. 1977 by David Peace. Murderous, nasty peek at the underbelly of Yorkshire. The squalor and violence is justified, but the plot untimately becomes incoherent. *
23. Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones. Revisiting Jones's novella disappoints - the narrator's voice sounds contrived and even its brief length seems stretched. No star
24. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy. Partly successful crime drama based around real life case. Contrived and lacking the breakneck fury of his later work. No star
25. The Shout and other stories by Robert Graves. Enjoyable, diverse collection. Perhaps too consistently whimsical. **

The films I watched in 2010

1. Robots. D: Chris Wedge. Flashy toon about anthropogenic robots. Impressive animation & Tom Waits on the sound track. [DVD] No star
   
2. Ice Age 2. D: Carlos Saldhana. Pointless sequel lacking the charm, wit and emotional resonance of the original. [DVD] No star
3. The Frog Princess. D: John Musker, Ron Clements. Cheery tale with jazzy soundtrack, but slowed down by too many songs. [Cinema] *
4. High Sierra. D: Raoul Walsh. Bogie's an ex-con with one last job to pull. Crime boiler spoiled by melodrama. Ida Lupino great as the moll. [DVD] No star
   
5. Zatoichi: the festival of fire. D: Kenji Misumi. Passable samurai film about blind swordsman masseur. Film 21 (!) in epic series. [DVD] No star
6. ...
   

In 2010 I will be reading mostly ...

Continuing my campaign to actually read the books I have, rather than buy books I want to read which then languish unread ...

FICTION

If This Is Man / The Truce by Primo Levi.
The Alienist by Caleb Carr.
The Shout and Other Stories by Robert Graves
Tell Me How Long The Train's Been Gone by James Baldwin
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
If On A Winter's Night A traveller by Italo Calvino

NON FICTION

Infinite Loop by Michael S. Malone
The Seven Pillars Of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence
The Climb Up To Hell by Jack Olsen
three Who Made A revolution by Betram D. Wolfe
Return To the Middle Kingdom by Yuan-Tsung Chen
The President We Deserve by Martin Walker
A Life by Eli Kazan

RE-READS

The penguin History of New Zealand by Michael King
China In the 20th Century by O. Edmund Clubb
The End Of Iraq by Peter Galbraith
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones.
Black rain by Masuji Ibuse.
Freefall by William Golding.
Wicked Beyond Belief by Michael Bilton.