Writing Updates & "The Man From Earth" & "Mongol"

Writing Update

Hello. I’ve been busy with my Hong Kong screenplay writing partner on that TV pilot that I wrote about in the September 17th blog. We’ve finished it – titled, “The Silver River” – and entered it in two TV screenplay writing contests; one in the US and one in the UK. Stay tuned and I’ll let you know how it turns out.

We were so satisfied with the results of that project that we decided to work on a feature-length movie screenplay based on the TV pilot’s material. The material was much refined from when I last wrote. Still no spaceships – perhaps, as we’re not sure what the submarine in “The Silver River” will turn out to be – but the story is definitely a cross-genre work where we have combined science fiction with wuxia. The movie idea uses the same cross-genre approach and, like the TV pilot, is also set the 22nd century and the 8th century. Right now it would be too early to say any more about it…

Recently Seen

I’ve recently seen two movies that really impressed me. I subscribe to Stephen Hunt’s British science fiction/fantasy e-zine: www.SFcrowsnest.com. In a movie review (http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/features/arc/2008/nz13093.php) one of their reviewers raved about “The Man From Earth,” writing that “The Man From Earth very probably will be one of the best science fiction films of this decade.”

Well, I couldn’t help but adding it to my Netflix list. With no special effects and set mostly in a professor’s living room, I must agree this is a most amazing movie. It is a movie of ideas not action, so don’t expect anything remotely similar to Hollywood. But the ideas and the way they are expressed kept me glued to the story and at times finding my jaw dangling.

The screenplay writer was Jerome Bixby who contributed stories to both The Twilight Zone and Star Trek. The Star Trek connection is continued here with some of the actors having appeared in the TV series. I don’t want to say any more as not to give away what’s going on here. You can read the review, but really – you have to see it!

Another recently enjoyed movie was “Mongol.” And here’s where the action does come to the forefront, but the ideas are also fascinating. This is the first part of a trilogy on the life of the great Mongol conqueror, Genghis Khan. It was filmed by the prominent Russian director, Sergei Bodrov, in the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan and nominated for an Oscar. The scenery is breathtaking, the international cast is wonderful, and the idea of the story is quite innovative – it is basically a love story! How could that be with Genghis Khan as the main character??? See it!

I hope to have another one of my short stories up on the next blog.

As for the world’s economic mess, here’s some advice from the “other” Roosevelt,

Yesterday is the past,
Tomorrow is a mystery,
Today is a gift,
that’s why it’s called the present.

Eleanor Roosevelt

She would have made a great Zen master.

Zaijian!

The Innkeeper