“An extraordinary writer” John Carpenter
Got, got, got,got, got, got, got, NEED, got, got…
At my pit of a school Panini football sticker albums were everywhere. I hated them. But a lot less popular were the movie related ones. I really remember the RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983) one and how much my mum hated buying me a packet of stickers.
Now I’m a dad I started the kids off with 100 packs. Let’s see how we get on…
Jaime’s mind was blown today when I showed her that her favourite rabbit used to be on The Middleman with Natalie Morales.
I guess this is her first on-camera prop.
Devastating. I’ll be writing about his work in the next newsletter no doubt. But right now… fuck and damn it.
I got to read to Jaime’s class today. Killed it.
I thought Not Now, Bernard would go down a storm, but it hot a little differently from what I expected. I guess it’s very much of its age, hell, it was read to me when I was their age. They couldn’t handle the ending.
‘What happened to Bernard?’ one kid asked hesitantly.
’THE MONSTER ATE HIM!’ replied another.
I explained to them that some stories can be read a little differently than just what’s on the surface and maybe there wasn’t a monster at all. Maybe Bernard was pretending to be a monster to get his parents’ attention.
But even then it’s a story about having shitty parents. It’s not very 2024. Also I don’t believe it for a second.
Bernard’s dead, baby. Bernard’s dead.
The second book was more of an instant hit, mostly because I’m way past being self conscious and the book is very good at putting the reader on the spot. I left the books for the class to have and I’m sure the teachers are going to hate me once they have to act the thing out.
Newsletter is out. Jim Rockford, George Costanza and Prometheus.
Always a pleasure to pull an old prog out.
I posted this to Instagram and an old girlfriend commented that perhaps I resembled Wulf Sternhammer. That’s one of the nicest things anyone has sod to me in a while.
Newsletter is out. A little waffle about Korean cinema, Fetch II and a new short story.
Finally got my hands on a physical print copy of Fetch II and it’s a thing of beauty. The amount of work and attention to detail that goes into these books is breathtaking and I’m in awe of my team who put it all together after I’ve done the easy bit. And now the local kids can finally read it and stop kicking me in the shins for that cliffhanger finale…
That’s not to say there’s not a little heartbreak in this one too. Hope you dig it.
I work my way through the South Korean Netflix once a month via a VPN to check out all the new English subtitled content. It’s a tad frustrating as so much isn’t subtitled, but that helps populate my ever expanding list of stuff I want to see. Thankfully the shows and movies that are subbed are usually essential viewing and very rewarding.
I really enjoyed 12.12: THE DAY (2023). Another tour de force by Jung Woo-sung. I’m a sucker for a good historical political drama and this one would make for a solid double bill with THE MAN STANDING NEXT (2020).
It’s a real shame we don’t get so see more of this stuff on the big screen outside of the festival circuit.
We won the Indie Fab GOLD award for BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL! Go team!