Writing Exercise: Date Unkown, No Title

I was going through some old things and found this writing exercise scribbled on a notepad. Never mind that the notepad was supposed to be for work purposes. I don't know the setting that triggered this exercise, but I am compelled to share it with you. Enjoy.

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Writing Exercise 1:

The boy silently walked out the classroom in tears, and suddenly the desks and blackboard began to blur in my vision. The halogen lights burned my eyes as my panic rippled through me like a punch in the gut. I was supposed to be the school counselor, the one with the chuck Taylors and button ups, the college degree with the Mr. Roger’s disposition, but I felt insignificant and small. I listened intently for my client’s return, because I knew would return to finish his session. (He came back to see me week after week, but I what good did I really do?) I sat with worms of anxiety eating away at my stomach, dreading that return.

The boy has cried for the first time in front of me, and I didn’t know what to do. His soulful brown eyes became misty with tears, and I watched in near horror as he described feeling like no one loved him. I froze. My silence my reply.

In the empty classroom I borrowed as my office, shadows of a 10 year old boy deep within me crawled out from his hiding place. A dead thing woken from his grave to feast on emotions I thought I left behind, and he threatened to drag me back with him.

The boy returned from the bathroom. He complained he had something in his eyes. I readily acknowledged his weak excuse with a nod and talked about the weather. I feared most of all going back to that place that brought him and me to tears, so I venture no further, and that 10 year old boy deep within me slithered back to his hiding place.

By locking those powerful shadows away, I left the boy behind. I wish to go back and allow him the chance to cry, because the 10 year old in me didn’t know that it was okay to cry.

A Good Marriage (Stephen King): A Movie Review

I was flicking through Netflix questioning what to watch when I stumbled upon a movie by Stephen King: A Good Marriage. I wasn't familiar with this story (a shock that must be rectified) and I didn't think he penned any screen plays recently. If I remember correctly, the film was rated 2/5 stars. I took a chance at it anyway. SPOILERS FOLLOW!

Note the side eye that seems to cut right through you...as if to say, Really?

The two main cast Joan Allen (Darcy) and Anthony LaPaglia (Bob) are husband and wife, celebrating 25 years of a good marriage, until Darcy discovers her husband's dark secret.  She finds out her husband is a serial killer. He is a sweet guy, a bit controlling, and with an infliction for bounding and torturing females, but he is willing to stop all this to please his wife. Meanwhile Darcy plays along, buying time to find a way to kill him.

Allen and LaPaglia are strong enough actors individually. However, they lacked a chemistry that I think a story like this needs. There's an intimacy in secrets and holding on to them can be destructive. That power is missing on screen. In layman's terms, Darcy and Bob are boring (I can't speak for the duo on print. I'll review them another time). They are as boring as their rare coin collecting hobby. Bob doesn't appear to struggle as he renounces his killing spree. Darcy doesn't have it in her to watch a horror flick, but somehow manages to think of ways to kill her husband. Opportunities to explore the drama of living with and trying to kill a serial killer are missed. This should've been Mr. and Mrs. Smith the Silver Years or maybe the infamous Dexter except this time his wife Rita is still alive and trying to kill him.

I forgot to mention a stalkerish figure that surrounds Darcy, who reveals himself to be a detective. That twist just isn't enough to make up for the lack of emotional investment there's for Darcy.

For these missed exploratory opportunities, the film's plot remains stationary, which contributes to it's overall boredom. It's hard to believe that the King of horror lit agreed to have his name associated with this project.

I agree with Netflix viewers and rate this film 2 of 5 stars. I watched A Good Marriage on Netflix, and I'm sure it is streaming and open to purchase on most other VoD sites.

Who has watched Carnivale?: Season 1 Review

I'm very late to this HBO television series, nearly a decade late. I was a high schooler when this first rolled out. Back in the day when you actually had to purchase cable to consume anything that pushed the envelope of tv-drama, Carnivale was turning heads and pulling in viewers. There was nudity (like most of HBO shows back then), epic sets and costumes, and did I mention nudity?

I geeked out when I discovered that my Amazon Prime account allowed me to watch the series any time I wanted. I always wondered about this show I couldn't watch.

Carnivale was a supernatual drama about a band of traveling Carnies and their recent hired-hand, Ben, who senses that people around him know more about him and his healer's gift than he does. Meanwhile, a methodist-like pastor, Brother Justin, is realizing the potential of his own gift as well. Ben and Brother Justin's paths are building slowly, ever so tediously, to a snail's pace crash, complete with floaties and rubber bumpers so that no one (even the viewers) will hear it.

If you've read between the lines, you've already pieced together how I feel about this series.

Despite the actors, the set and the intricately woven stories lines, I got to the season finale still confused as to what I was watching. It felt more like a midseason finale. The mystery about Ben and Brother Justin were nearly answered, and the conflict you knew was gonna happen...didn't.

So I did some research. Apparently the writers and its creator, Mr. Daniel Knauf, worked really hard at creating the histories of all their characters. The main story line works in Templar Knights, gnosticism, and Christian ideals of good and evil. On top of that were stories about sexuality and relationships amid the suffering weight of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl South. Such a literary exploration of these themes did not always translate well to the small screen.

Nuggets of character revelations and story mythos were apparently left in many episodes. Fanatics I'm sure had fun deciphering these clues, but average viewers couldn't keep up. As I watched, I knew that something was happening, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I couldn't flip back through episodes, the way I would with pages, to piece and tie things together.

Viewership dropped steadily as Season 1 'shook dust' and moved on to the next season. I will follow them next season too knowing full well the series was axed before the creator and their writers got to fully see their vision.

Carnivale has won countless awards, 5 emmys and a bunch of other nominations. Despite this it suffered greatly for being to meta in its execution of its story. They had a hard time finding a happy medium (literally, in many ways) to present their story.

You too can watch Season One of Carnivale on Amazon, available on VoD and Amazon Prime.

Dreamcatcher by Stephen King: Novel Review

Four childhood friends from Derry, Maine go off on a hunting trip into the woods and happen across a hunter who has been lost for quite some time and is frightened by dazzling lights that sweep the sky periodically. Army helicopters seem to be chasing down these lights. Animals desert the forest in exodus. Not to mention a snow storm is making any contact to the outside world very difficult. When something seems to grow straight out of the lost hunter's bowels, these four childhood friends get wrapped up in a plot with global ramifications if it is successful.

Outside this window is 3-ft of snow

(SPOILERS FOLLOW!)

The story begins in rather classic King fashion. Four childhood friends gifted with something remarkable are going about their adult lives, until one gets hit by car. Fast forward some time later, they are on a hunting trip. Then the story develops into this alien-abduction plot straight out of X-Files. The narrative then includes the POV of select military men on a mission to eradicate alien visitors. The rest is about our surviving hunters trying to stay ahead of the military cogs and one escaped alien.

Maybe I have the attention span of a goldfish, but I prefer my stories concise and eloquent so that when I look back on it, I can pull powerful images and scenes as if for the first time. When I finally found the courage to read through this King tome, I had no idea what I was in for. I feel King is stronger when he is brief  but I kept reading despite the book's intimidating length (Seriously, this book is weapon if hurled across a room). The length of Dreamcatcher may be it's only drawback, because the entire work is rather good. By rather good, I mean I wouldn't be upset if this was the only book available and I was trapped in by a storm (which is exactly how I came to read Dreamcatcher).

King mixes the heart of lasting friendships and relationships with a dollop of suspense and fear. He even has time to spin some elements of It back into the story.

In my research for this review, I discovered that King didn't like Dreamcatcher much, because it was written under the influence of oxy (prescribed while he was recovering from an incident). That may explain the near 600 pages the book clocks in at. He was on some good isht!

All in all, Dreamcatcher is slightly above average (3.5/5), but the pile-up of characters and shifting POVs could leave you confused.