The Web Haunt of Ryan K Lindsay

I’ve been gone for two weeks. I’ve travelled many a click to go right up the Australian coast, right back down it, got over 2000 clicks done in one day between planes and automobiles, no trains though, and caught up with many people. Drank a few litres of gin, some port and ate a lot of cheese. I house-sat a mansion that is worth more than my life ever will be, watched the sun rise up on a cold Canberra morning, ran a few clicks, sat way too many hours in airports and generally got to enjoy my life.

A lot has changed.

Namely, I bought the soundtrack to The Proposition. Just kick ass music for a kick ass film. I love not getting buyer’s regret. I also bought J.G. Ballard’s Kingdom Come, which sounds like it should be good.

I read Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest. It was a pretty good book. When the murder was solved before the halfway mark I wondered what would happen, apparently a lot of death was still to come. I liked the way the characters all tried to play each other, it was interesting to watch the structure unfold. To spice up the story Hammett just throws in a character with something to say which explains something that happened out of scene, so it’s an easy way to progress the story, a pretty cool trick to use. It is also the book that the Coen Brother’s stole the line ‘blood simple’ from. I also remember Rian Johnson talking about how the main character didn’t have time to sleep so he would have a drink and sit in a bath of cold water for ten minutes. If that can inspire Johnson to write and direct Brick then the book can’t be all that bad.

I am reading J.G. Ballard’s Crash right now, and man, I have never read the word semen so many times. It is amazing how he can tie the simplest stuff back to sex. It seems obvious to compare it, because of the Cronenberg adaptations, but this book reminds me of William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch. They are obviously very different books, but they are also two strange men working through a lot of sexual business. They are definitely worth reading, just out of interest, but not something I would recommend to everyone.

I read Robert Kirkman’s Capes trade. It’s not the greatest stuff, but you see how he is always trying to craft a global story with every frame, every look. He loves to put things in that he can come back to later. It works well for him. I liked the characters in the book, but hey, I guess they can’t all be big hits.

I’m reading Andrew Denton interviews from his show, Enough Rope. Man, it is interesting reading. The different people he gets and the great way he works his questions is fun to just sit and read. I like the show but never seem to remember to watch it, especially as I don’t really watch tv anymore because I spend most nights here on the laptop pretending to be a writer…

I’ve read the first issue of Eric Powell’s Billy The Kid’s Old Timey Oddities. I liked it, the Billy character seems well written for me and the art is pretty bloody good.

Also, North World has started back up with Conrad’s story. Nice! I love this website and am glad that I can now check it daily to see what’s happening.

I guess I should mention my work. Sigh.

I didn’t get as much done as one might hope. I proofed The Choice That Had To Be Made, and it went really well. I pared down the sex scene, which had to happen, and it feels just that bit tighter for me now. The sex scene was what was really holding me back, so I think I like the story a lot more know. Hell, it might even be ready for publication.

I proofed the shit out of the first issue of Fate, and made some good notes and was surprised to see just how much I had crammed into just the first issue. I’m happy with it.

I didn’t do much other proofing, but I did start two different screenplays; one for film and one for a tv show. I was happy to eek a few scenes out on either of them.

I know, it sounds like I didn’t do much work with my two weeks, and I didn’t, but did you not read about the litres of gin. Totally worth it.

Posted on July 21st, 2008 by ryan
Filed under: books, comics, life, music, television, websites