Men in White was a 1934 melodrama starring Clark Gable as a devoted doctor with a society wife who can't understand his commitment to his patients. The movie caused a stir because Gable has an affair with a nurse, and later there's a scene implying abortion. Later in 1934, the Hays Code would come into effect, and Hollywood would self-censor films like Men in White for the next thirty years.
Meanwhile, though, the Stooges made a parody of it. And it's weird. Details below the jump.
02 August 2010
31 July 2010
122,000
Finally bit the bullet and put together a test draft with the new revisions and did a word count. The rough tally came to 122,000, up nearly 10,000 from the previous draft. Blarg.
Stooge Reviews #2: Punch Drunks
Even though "Woman Haters" was the first short featuring the Three Stooges, you could say its follow-up, 1936's "Punch Drunks" is the first Three Stooges short. After the experiment with "Musical Novelties", "Punch Drunks" gets back to--creates, in fact--the Stooge formula that would serve the troupe so well for so long.
More after the jump.
More after the jump.
30 July 2010
Stooge Reviews #1: Woman Haters
So today we're debuting a new feature here on X-Ray Blues--reviews of the 190 Columbia Three Stooges shorts, in order, starting in 1934. This has absolutely fuck-all to do with science fiction, writing, or publishing, but it's my blog, so poop on you if you don't like it. Review begins below the jump.
29 July 2010
Writer Beware
I have added a new link on my front page: SFWA's Writer Beware blog, a comprehensive compendium of shady deals, borderline scams, and outright fraudulent agents and publishers looking to fleece new writers. There's also good information on how to spot a scam on your own. I'll add my own bit of advice here:
1. If the money is flowing from you at any point in the process, it's a scam (legitimate publishers assume all the financial risk publishing a book; legitimate agents are paid only when a client is paid). The only thing you should have to pay for during the publishing process is postage.
2. If an agent or publisher is soliciting submissions through advertisements, it's a scam (agents and publishers are always inundated with more submissions than they could ever accept). The only "advertisement" for publishers and agents that's reliably legitimate is the Writer's Market.
1. If the money is flowing from you at any point in the process, it's a scam (legitimate publishers assume all the financial risk publishing a book; legitimate agents are paid only when a client is paid). The only thing you should have to pay for during the publishing process is postage.
2. If an agent or publisher is soliciting submissions through advertisements, it's a scam (agents and publishers are always inundated with more submissions than they could ever accept). The only "advertisement" for publishers and agents that's reliably legitimate is the Writer's Market.
Blog is active again, HI update
y helo thar
I have a confession. I'm a terrible blogger, I know I'm a terrible blogger, and I always feel a little bit bad every time I restart a blog because I know I'm going to abandon it in, like, a month, and leave my readers hanging. Nevertheless, here I am, restarting a blog. If you don't want to follow it, I wouldn't blame you.
I have a confession. I'm a terrible blogger, I know I'm a terrible blogger, and I always feel a little bit bad every time I restart a blog because I know I'm going to abandon it in, like, a month, and leave my readers hanging. Nevertheless, here I am, restarting a blog. If you don't want to follow it, I wouldn't blame you.
04 December 2009
Philadelphia crowds
Saw Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm tonight at the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. JoCO and the boys put on a good show, as usual, but there was an annoyingly high number of people in the audience who thought this was some kind of interactive performance, who kept derailing the show by shouting "hilarious" comments and demands for specific songs. It's intensely fucking annoying, as you might imagine--I didn't pay for the tickets and then drop another forty bucks on food and drink in order to hear some drunk douchebag slurring bad jokes at high volume. I live in a college town; I can experience that for the cost of a pint of Yuengling any weekend of the year.
The thing is, I've been to two other shows with these guys (yeah, I know; five more years at this rate and I'll probably be LARPing), one in Alexandria, VA and one in Annapolis, and at neither one, was the audience this disruptive. Meanwhile, at a Lewis Black show I saw in Philadelphia last year, there was the same fucking thing--dipshits in the audience disrupting the show. Not even by heckling, which you at least understand is a possibility at a comedy show. Just trying to participate, like the other three thousand people in the theater paid to hear you and Lewis Black have a fucking conversation.
For that matter, I remember it happening when John Stewart performed at the Tower Theater, in Upper Darby (just over the city line). Though Stewart just talked right over them; in a big venue, the guy with the microphone owns the show (I was a bit annoyed, actually, that Lewis Black responded to the jerkoffs in the audience rather than bulling right over them). So I'm wondering, is this a common thing in Philadelphia? Or am I just unlucky? And if it's common here, is it only common here, or did I just happen to run into unusually well-behaved crowds in Alexandria and Annapolis?
The thing is, I've been to two other shows with these guys (yeah, I know; five more years at this rate and I'll probably be LARPing), one in Alexandria, VA and one in Annapolis, and at neither one, was the audience this disruptive. Meanwhile, at a Lewis Black show I saw in Philadelphia last year, there was the same fucking thing--dipshits in the audience disrupting the show. Not even by heckling, which you at least understand is a possibility at a comedy show. Just trying to participate, like the other three thousand people in the theater paid to hear you and Lewis Black have a fucking conversation.
For that matter, I remember it happening when John Stewart performed at the Tower Theater, in Upper Darby (just over the city line). Though Stewart just talked right over them; in a big venue, the guy with the microphone owns the show (I was a bit annoyed, actually, that Lewis Black responded to the jerkoffs in the audience rather than bulling right over them). So I'm wondering, is this a common thing in Philadelphia? Or am I just unlucky? And if it's common here, is it only common here, or did I just happen to run into unusually well-behaved crowds in Alexandria and Annapolis?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)