Link Dump
Just the usual twirl through the depths of ye olde internets:
- The Five Stages of Being Adapted by Martin Scorsese – Interesting article interviewing authors who’ve had movies adapted from their novels. I particularly liked Dennis Lehane’s thoughts on writing for the screen:
I hate the term “cinematic” when it’s applied to anything besides cinema. I feel like saying, “What it is is perfectly detailed. What it is is giving you the impression of cinema before cinema existed.” Good writing is vivid. Good writing is visual. Good writing makes the brain turn into a film projector. What I would consider “cinematic writing,” and I would disparage it, is writing so it can be made into a film. Just write a script.
And this bit about the reception of Shutter Island is good too:
Critically, the response to [Shutter Island] was pretty tepid. I remember A.O. Scott at The New York Times practically had an embolism over it. He hated it so much. I thought it was hilarious. I had a blast reading that review and I would read that out loud to my friends. I know that the general critical response was, “It’s OK, but in the Scorsese lexicon we throw it around the Cape Fear general area.” But the popular response is bigger than anything else I’ve been associated with.
“Oh, you’re a writer, what do you write?” Like, people expect you to say you’re a copywriter or something like that. I’ll say, “I wrote Mystic River,” and sometimes I get a kind of, “Oh, I think that was a movie.” But I say Shutter Island, everybody goes, “Oh, DiCaprio?” Everybody knows it, so …
I guess there still are movie stars these days…
- ‘Parasite’: How This Year’s Wildest, Buzziest, Most Unexpected Breakout Hit Came to Life – This interview with Bong Joon Ho features this insane exchange:
Would you direct a Marvel movie?
Bong: I have a personal problem. I respect the creativity that goes into superhero films, but in real life and in movies, I can’t stand people wearing tight-fitting clothes. I’ll never wear something like that, and just seeing someone in tight clothes is mentally difficult. I don’t know where to look, and I feel suffocated. Most superheroes wear tight suits, so I can never direct one. I don’t think anyone will offer the project to me either. If there is a superhero who has a very boxy costume, maybe I can try.
Now I do kinda want to see him take that on.
- Sporty – From the #idontknowwhatthefuckisgoingoninthisvideo file. As speculated by the commenters, I’m pretty sure they found the jacket and just had to make something to capitalize on it.
- Hermit Crabs have an interesting form of cooperative competition:
As the hermit crab grows in size, it must find a larger shell and abandon the previous one. Several hermit crab species, both terrestrial and marine, have been observed forming a vacancy chain to exchange shells.[8] When an individual crab finds a new empty shell it will leave its own shell and inspect the vacant shell for size. If the shell is found to be too large, the crab goes back to its own shell and then waits by the vacant shell for up to 8 hours. As new crabs arrive they also inspect the shell and, if it is too big, wait with the others, forming a group of up to 20 individuals, holding onto each other in a line from the largest to the smallest crab. As soon as a crab arrives that is the right size for the vacant shell and claims it, leaving its old shell vacant, then all the crabs in the queue swiftly exchange shells in sequence, each one moving up to the next size.
It’s not all rainbows and sunshine (“Hermit crabs often “gang up” on one of their species with what they perceive to be a better shell”), but it’s neat when it works out.
- Captain Picard sings “Let it Snow!” – Some people have a lot of time on their hands.
- The greatest talk-show entrance of all time – Nicolas Cage on Wogan, 1992.
That’s all for now…