Month: November 2007

In his post on 3 Things You Didn’t Know About “20th Century Ghost”, Joe Hill mentions getting the idea for the short story while watching American Pie 2. Which, is not to say that the movie inspired the story, I think, so much as being there in his small town theater did. Had the movie been more engrossing, I guess it’s altogether possible the story never would have been written.

Which leads me to wonder, what other better works have been inspired by crap?* I’m sure there are other, more famous examples — good movies or books that were made in response to bad — but I can’t think of any off-hand.

* There are worse movies than American Pie 2, certainly, but let’s not kid ourselves.

Oh, such bountiful variety! The soda machine on this floor of the office contains, in this order:

  • Orange Powerade
  • Powerade
  • Lemonade
  • Sprite
  • Ginger Ale
  • Water
  • Orangeade

Leaving aside for the moment that we have a water cooler not twenty feet away from the machine, that’s a lot of orange.

This weekend is the 2007 World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga. I won’t be there, but I am sort of toying with the idea of attending it or another convention next year to support Kaleidotrope. (Of course, next year’s, in Calgary, isn’t quite as close.)

Anyway, one of the reasons I won’t be there is that I’ll be visiting my sister in Maryland. So I’m posting the Friday Random Guess 10 a little earlier than usual:

  1. “Mandinka” by Sinead O’Connor, guessed by Eric
    I’m dancing the seven veils
  2. “I’ve Got a Feeling” by Ivy
    I’ve been watching the world pass by all around me
  3. “I Dig Love” by George Harrison, guessed by Eric
    Small love, big love, I don’t care
  4. “Beautiful Night” by Paul McCartney, guessed by Kim
    They’ve got castles in Versailles
  5. “Walk Right In” by Rooftop Singers, guessed by Eric
    Daddy, let your mind roll on
  6. “The Carbon Cycle” by Hard ‘n Phirm, guessed by Kim
    I wake up in the forest in a jacket made of rayon
  7. “Like Dreamers Do” by the Beatles, guessed by Kim
    You came just one dream ago
  8. “Fast As You Can” by Fiona Apple, guessed by Eric
    I let the beast in too soon
  9. “Cocaine” by J.J. Cale, guessed by Eric
    She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie
  10. “Have a Good Time” by Paul Simon
    Yesterday it was my birthday

I’m hoping to post the answers to last week’s lyrics before I leave tomorrow morning, but I can make no guarantees at this point. In fact, at this point, all I really can guarantee is that I need sleep.

Anyway, as always, good luck!

Update: Here are last week’s answers, if you want to check your work.

Okay, nobody pinch me. Joss Whedon is returning to television, full-time with Eliza Dushku, and the show sounds really cool:

The idea is those with the money or connections can access this secret highly illegal facility where they can basically fulfill their greatest fantasies. Most people assume that means sex — and on an occasion it does, because that is a lot of people’s fantasies — but it’s basically scenarios. They can basically reenact scenarios of romance, adventure or anything perfectly, because they become the person that you want them to be — they become that person. They don’t act like that person, they are not a robot pretending, they become that person, and then they forget all about it. The problem is the character of Echo, Eliza Dushku’s character, stops forgetting. She doesn’t completely remember, but she does realize she is a person, and that she might have been a person before she did this, and she doesn’t know what that is.

There’s still that whole pending writer’s strike to get past first, but after that, they already have a seven-episode committment from Fox. (Of course, it is Fox, but still.)