David Foster Wallace, R.I.P.

Sad news tonight -- writer David Foster Wallace was found dead in his home. From the AP:

David Foster Wallace, the author best known for his 1996 novel "Infinite Jest," was found dead in his home, according to police. He was 46.

Wallace's wife found her husband had hanged himself when she returned home about 9:30 p.m. Friday, said Jackie Morales, a records clerk with the Claremont Police Department.

Wallace taught creative writing and English at nearby Pomona College.

"He cared deeply for his students and transformed the lives of many young people," said Dean Gary Kates. "It's a great loss to our teaching faculty."

Wallace's first novel, "The Broom of the System," gained national attention in 1987 for its ambition and offbeat humor. The New York Times said the 24-year-old author "attempts to give us a portrait, through a combination of Joycean word games, literary parody and zany picaresque adventure, of a contemporary America run amok."

Published in 1996, "Infinite Jest" cemented Wallace's reputation as a major American literary figure. The 1,000-plus-page tome, praised for its complexity and dark wit, topped many best-of lists. Time Magazine named "Infinite Jest" in its issue of the "100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005."

I enjoyed Wallace's short stories a great deal, and always had him on my short list of novelists I wanted to spend more time with once I got the chance.

If you're looking for a good starting point, check out Girl With Curious Hair, a superb short story collection published in 1989.

Link roundup:

New York Times obit
The Onion A.V. Club obit
Sarah Weinman on DFW
L.A. Times' Jacket Copy book blog obit

Trailer Trash XI: Queen Kong (1976)

"Queen Kong - the Liberated Lady Gorilla!"

Yep, this movie was made. Sometimes that's the best review you can give a film.

A short history: In 1976, a pretty mediocre remake of King Kong (no, not THAT mediocre King Kong remake) was made, produced by Academy Award-winner Dino De Laurentiis. Just a short flight across the Atlantic, a bunch of Brits set to work on a parody titled... get ready... Queen Kong.

The film existed more or less as a vehicle to make PMS jokes about a giant gorilla. In the movie, an effeminate hippie named Ray Fay (Ray Fay, get it? GET IT???) befriends a giant she-gorilla and they have many zany gorilla-centric adventures.



At 0:01 - Kong! Kong! Kong! Kong!
At 0:40 - Ray Fay and the Gorilla wink at each other, setting the tone for the whole movie.
At 0:46 - Notice as the T-Rex's face squishes inward as it's pounded on. Through no small feat of suck, the monsters in this movie are somehow less realistic than the ones in the 1933 original.
At 1:04 - OH GAWD THE TEETH, I AM BLIND
At 1:05 - Love the muzak soundtrack to this scene.
At 1:08 - OH MY EYES THOSE TEETH, WHY ARE THEY DOING THAT>!>??
At 1:11 - AND AGAAAIANIANNIIN
At 1:20 - No comment on that punch.
At 1:30 - Strange monster plant = perfect opportunity for gratuitous ass shot.
At 1:38 - Yep, Queen Kong wears a bra.
At 2:35 - I think that lady getting punched was possibly the first intentionally funny part of the trailer.
At 2:50 - Just in case we forgot this was a British movie.
At 3:10 - And again. They don't want you to forget where this movie was made.
At 3:25 - The Queen Kong Song was certainly snubbed by the Academy.



The film had sunk into obscurity when a lawsuit from Dino De Laurentiis severely limited its release to a few European countries.

Strangely, though...


... the movie gained a huge cult following in Japan in the mid-90s, which has slowly spread west. Why Japan? Who knows. (Rachel, I'm looking at you...?)


"She's in one of her moods again!"

Muderati on story structure, building a second act

Alexandra Sokoloff, writing at crime fiction blog Murderati, has been posting a series of pieces dissecting story structure and the elements of a strong, dramatic story.

She's just posted her thoughts on Act 2:

Act Two is summed up by the greats such as, like, you know, Aristotle - as “Rising Tension” or “Progressive Complications”. Or in the classic screenwriting formula: Act One is “Get the Hero Up a Tree”, and Act Two is “Throw Rocks at Him” (and for the impatient out there, like Toni, the end-skipper, I’ll reveal that Act Three is; “Get Him Down.”)

All true enough, but a tad vague for my taste.

So let’s get more specific.

The beginning of the second act of a book or film (30 minutes or thirty script pages into a film, 100 or so pages into a book) – can often be summed up as “Into the Special World” or “Crossing the Threshold”. Dorothy opening the door of her black and white house and stepping into Technicolor Oz one of the most famous and graphic examples… Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole is another. The passageway to the special world might be particularly unique… like the wardrobe in THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE; that between-the-numbers subway platform in the HARRY POTTER series; Alice again, going THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS; the tornado in THE WIZARD OF OZ; the blue pill (or was it the red pill?) in THE MATRIX; or the tesseract in A WRINKLE IN TIME.

This step might come in the first act, or somewhat later in the second act, but it’s generally the end or beginning of a sequence – think of ALIEN (the landing on the planet to investigate the alien ship), STAR WARS, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARC, going out on the ocean in that too-small boat in JAWS, flying down to Cartagena in ROMANCING THE STONE, flying to Rio in NOTORIOUS, stopping at the Bates Motel in PSYCHO. It’s often the beginning of an actual, physical journey in an action movie; in a ghost story it is entering the haunted house (or haunted anything). It’s a huge moment and deserves special weight.

Obviously, this is useful beyond the world of crime fiction, but fiction in general, in any form. Here are her thoughts on creating your first act.

And, you savvy Connelly fans will find a quick reference to our favorite anti-hero, Detective Harry Bosch, in the first section of the post, where Sokoloff responds to an email about characters changing over longer periods of time (many books vs. one). Interesting reading.

The latest on literary agents

GalleyCat has a nice roundup of literary agent news, including a literary agent's thoughts on Amazon's Kindle, why the industry is all about waiting and a few more points of interest. Read on, friends:

Over at the Guide to Literary Agents blog, Chuck Sambuchino announces the winner of the "Worst Storyline Ever" contest. Even though the winning entry will never get anywhere near an agent, somebody needs to sell this:

"After losing badly in The Kentucky Derby, a horse is sold to the glue factory where he is processed and bottled, and we follow the stories of everyone who uses the glue, from a nose-picking pre-schooler to a dyslexic kidnapper who glues cut-out letters on a ransom note, until the last drop is gone."

Curtis Brown agent Nathan Brandsford warns writers about the abuse of a certain phrase in queries. The fragile dreams of melodramatic writers around the world are shattered.

Thinking about buying a Kindle? Ask yourself, what do book agents think about this strange new device? Janet Reid from Fine Print blogs her answer.

Agent Kate Schafer meditates on the "glacial" pace of the book business. "If you want a career in publishing, get used to waiting," she writes, patiently.

Burn After Reading

From this week's Time Out New York:

Burn After Reading is a disposable lark, and it’s treated by the filmmakers as such; Forget After Seeing would be a far more honest title.

Yowch. Has anyone seen this yet who can give their opinion?

The Dark Knight Strikes Again

According to E! Online, in an article I read here, the Dark Knight is set to hit theaters again in January as a "reminder" for all Academy voters. As a huge fan of The Dark Knight (and all things Batman), I have this to say:

Awesome.

Yet, I have to wonder a bit about the decision. Dark Knight should be hitting DVDs well in time to cause a few mad dashes and tramplings around holiday season when stores open before the sun rises. Heath Ledger's performance, though by this point exposed to the world for almost two months, is still quite a hot topic of discussion among cinephiles and pop cult fans alike. I personally think that his Joker is by far one of the best screen villains I've ever seen. I challenge you to name 10 better.

At this point, though, a move like that - "returning" a film to theaters that is still ranking in the top 5 weekend earners in box office data is a bit odd. Sure, it will eventually have to leave theaters. But will it just return weeks later? It's an odd mix of factors at play, I think. Some people who were waiting for the DVD - why would anyone do that? - will probably like it so much they'll pay to see it on the big screen in January. Other people, myself not necessarily left out, might seek out the opportunity to go with friends who weren't around over the summer.

At the end of the day, though, if you asked me, I'd say the move was most about money. Dark Knight is about $78 million from matching Titanic*. (*Due to inflation, DK would have to hit about $900 million in ticket sales to sell the number of tickets Titanic did.) $78 million is a lot of money for most movies. Actually, it's a phenomenal amount of money for a majority of films to make it onto screens in this country. Yet for movies like Dark Knight, Titanic, and anything Star Wars, $78 is an opening day's pay (well, at least a Friday and Saturday). Can it be achieved with another month in theaters in early 2009? Is WB trying to just break Titanic's record? Do we really need a reminder about how good Heath Ledger was? Or does none of that matter?

Will you see it in theaters next year?

Brooklyn Book Festival this Sunday

The annual Brooklyn Book Festival takes place on Sunday, September 14th. These guys do a great job rounding up hundreds of vendors, author signings and Q&A events every year. One event of particular interest to screenwriters:

2:00 p.m. PENUltimate Lit: Literature and the Small Screen. Join authors A.M. Homes (The L Word) and Richard Price (The Wire) as they discuss the challenges and opportunities that arise when fiction writers take their talents from page to the small screen.

Participating speakers run the gamut from Walter Mosley to Brian Wood to Thurston Moore. The full event lineup is here.