Tim did a lot of work getting this site functioning correctly again, so I thought I’d do a quick post about what I’m looking forward to here in the last stretch of summer. After this week-ish, I have a vacation with my wife, and then I have to shift gears to get ready for work again.
I’ve been working on a script/movie idea with a collaborator for about a year and a half. We had a lot of ideas and ran into even more dead ends trying to figure out just what the story was, and finally, in the past two weeks, some pieces fell into place, and it looks like it is going somewhere. I’m excited about this because it is a cool idea.
I had also hoped to set up a Bandcamp landing page for some music/sounds I’d written, but… that may happen sometime in the fall/winter? I don’t know… I guess that is in the wings. I have the music; it’s just a case of setting up the page.
Finally, I hope to finish a book of mermaids I’ve been reading while concurrently watching mermaid films. Splash, by the way, is a bizarre film but a true testament to the acting chops of Tom Hanks. John Candy is funny, and Daryl Hannah plays the fish out of water mermaid quite well – but wow – the film moves from fantasy rom-com to full-on farce at points. The world of the mid-80s was very different than today’s. I’ve yet to compile my top 5 best mermaid films, but maybe Splash would make it to give the list variety.
This morning I got some BDs I ordered way back at the top of the summer today. I also got a free copy of Showgirls; I don’t know why; maybe it’s my lucky day.
In closing, the video game that has defined my summer is Mordhau, which is as inspiringly insipid as it is addictive. My time would be better spent on Diablo, but that’s how these things sometimes go.
This statement is pretty on-brand for Mike: “I hope to finish a book of mermaids I’ve been reading while concurrently watching mermaid films.” The book I can see, but you have a list of mermaid films you are watching?
The book is a collection of oral tales, short stories, myths, and excerpts – so even if I never complete it – I’ve already completed numerous readings; it’s the book for me – lol! It’s also a surprisingly diverse topic, and the book provides concise context for each reading. (It would make a great RPG source.) Film-wise, I’m not extending the films to mermen at this point (e.g., _Creature from the Black Lagoon_ (1954), _Shape of Water_ (2017), etc.), just mermaids. Of mermaid films, one I rate highly is _The Lure_ (2015). It’s wild and utterly different from Disney’s interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen, though, by the admission of Agnieszka Smoczyńska, the film’s director, the 1990 Disney version was a big influence. The other movie I like is _Night Tide_ (1961), directed by Curtis Harrington and starring a young Denis Hopper. It’s been one I’ve loved for years. There is also a film called _Undine_ (2020), directed by Christian Petzold, one of the most interesting contemporary directors working. Every time I see one of his films, I am floored. The film is based on a novella, which is only anthologized in excerpt form in the collection, but I picked up the full version of it and am now reading it; I will watch the film after. Undine is technically a water spirit, not a mermaid, but the novella prefigured and influenced Andersen immensely