uberlisting for October
This month's items off the list have shown me that I'm having quite a different year than the one I set out to have. Which is a weirdly pleasing sensation, even as I wonder what's next. So: six things struck.
10. Read a book - Oct
Found A FEAST FOR CROWS absorbing and, in a way that A STORM OF SWORDS wasn't, breezy. Excited to see how it'll be translated to the small screen, though suspect I'll have to read A DANCE WITH DRAGONS soonish to be truly ahead of the show.
22. Read a play - Oct
Looked at Hamilton Deane's 1924 script for DRACULA, an intriguing but really rough piece. Not for nothing did the thing get revised by John Balderston a few years later - THAT script remains a gold standard of Dracula onstage, though happily other adaptations have been launched since.
55. House of Sparrows entry - Oct
A couple of things over at the House, though this month wound up being a lot busier and filled with distractions than anticipated, so the pieces are HEY I HAVE PLANS! and HEY I COMPLETELY SCREWED UP THOSE PLANS!
As it turns out I've been able to churn out a ton of writing, but none of it for the expected venues. I've been startled by how different the year turned out to be than the one I planned for - where I hoped to do a bunch of theatrical things, I've actually done none of them. And yet my film writing's been featured in spaces beyond the ones I control, and I even got paid for one of those pieces. Rather than deepening my theatre work, I've found myself branching out as a writer on cinema, presenting a couple of things, returning to the fold of programming. A door opening while another closes? Time will tell. I'm already wondering what next year's Uberlist will look like...
76. Blind
I was expecting something a bit more horrific (and, indeed, horror), but CANNIBAL (seen at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on the night before Halloween) turned out to be a beautifully slow, emotionally charged and completely unsensational take on its subject matter (a cannibalistic serial killer, and his growing relationship with the sister of a victim). I love those situations where you get a different movie than what you were expecting, and like it more than you would have liked the movie you were expecting.
86. Get to the Symphony again
A bit of a cheat, but this was my second Halloween at the SF Symphony's silent-movie-with-organ-accompaniment. Was pleased that Todd Wilson had his tempo under better control tonight. And was startled how creepy the 94-year-old DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE remains.
91. Get to Yoshi's
Wound up at the other, original Yoshi's over in Oakland for a memorable evening with drummer Terry Bozzio, a musician so able, virtuosic, and brilliant that he wasn't upstaged by his mammoth fucking kit. A beautiful night, filled with sensitive, moving playing, from a humble, self-effacing guy with a half century's experience.
10. Read a book - Oct
Found A FEAST FOR CROWS absorbing and, in a way that A STORM OF SWORDS wasn't, breezy. Excited to see how it'll be translated to the small screen, though suspect I'll have to read A DANCE WITH DRAGONS soonish to be truly ahead of the show.
22. Read a play - Oct
Looked at Hamilton Deane's 1924 script for DRACULA, an intriguing but really rough piece. Not for nothing did the thing get revised by John Balderston a few years later - THAT script remains a gold standard of Dracula onstage, though happily other adaptations have been launched since.
55. House of Sparrows entry - Oct
A couple of things over at the House, though this month wound up being a lot busier and filled with distractions than anticipated, so the pieces are HEY I HAVE PLANS! and HEY I COMPLETELY SCREWED UP THOSE PLANS!
As it turns out I've been able to churn out a ton of writing, but none of it for the expected venues. I've been startled by how different the year turned out to be than the one I planned for - where I hoped to do a bunch of theatrical things, I've actually done none of them. And yet my film writing's been featured in spaces beyond the ones I control, and I even got paid for one of those pieces. Rather than deepening my theatre work, I've found myself branching out as a writer on cinema, presenting a couple of things, returning to the fold of programming. A door opening while another closes? Time will tell. I'm already wondering what next year's Uberlist will look like...
76. Blind
I was expecting something a bit more horrific (and, indeed, horror), but CANNIBAL (seen at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on the night before Halloween) turned out to be a beautifully slow, emotionally charged and completely unsensational take on its subject matter (a cannibalistic serial killer, and his growing relationship with the sister of a victim). I love those situations where you get a different movie than what you were expecting, and like it more than you would have liked the movie you were expecting.
86. Get to the Symphony again
A bit of a cheat, but this was my second Halloween at the SF Symphony's silent-movie-with-organ-accompaniment. Was pleased that Todd Wilson had his tempo under better control tonight. And was startled how creepy the 94-year-old DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE remains.
91. Get to Yoshi's
Wound up at the other, original Yoshi's over in Oakland for a memorable evening with drummer Terry Bozzio, a musician so able, virtuosic, and brilliant that he wasn't upstaged by his mammoth fucking kit. A beautiful night, filled with sensitive, moving playing, from a humble, self-effacing guy with a half century's experience.