The Writer's Life 11/14 - Circus

I unknowingly did a little bad planning at Netflix. Just two weeks after viewing Angelina Jolie's directorial debut, Unbroken (2014), the true story of the survivors of a plane shot down in WWII adrift at sea on a raft for 41 days and the subsequent internment of two of them in a prison camp, Against the Sun (2014) arrived. It too is based on actual events, a 34-day ordeal after a plane, out of fuel, had to be ditched at sea. There was even a book written about it way back in 1945, The Raft: The Courageous Struggle of Three Naval Airmen Against the Sea by Robert Trumbull. The film is so similar to the first hour or so of Jolie's that it almost seemed a rerun. The three actors, Garrett Dillahunt, Tom Felton of the Harry Potter series, and Jake Abel acquit themselves well. Dillahunt seems to be very busy, having 71 credits listed at IMDb, not counting many multiple appearances on TV shows. The film was directed by Brian Falk, his first full length feature, solid if unspectacular work. He co-wrote the screenplay with Mark David Keegan, whose only credit it is. There is one disappointing aspect -- an obviously fake shark captured and killed for dinner. 2200+ users at IMDb have rated Against the Sun, forging to a consensus of 6.5 of ten. On a scale of five, I rate it 2.75. Anyone who has watched Jolie's film recently should wait a while before viewing this one. Here's the cover of the re-issued 1992 edition of the book:

Yesterday Donald Trump made despicable remarks about Dr. Ben Carson, describing his behavior as a youth as pathological as a child molester's and incurable. Many pundits predicted he would eventually say something off the wall from which he would be unable to recover. Was this it, or was it swallowed up by the Paris attacks? I guess Trump views Carson as a threat. Carson is the only GOP candidate who would likely be routed in a one on one debate by Hillary, as bad as she is at it. His lack of experience would be on full display. Still, Trump's attack was way out of line.

There was a circus outside the Chase bank at Bay Parkway and 85th today, as an army of workers prepared to do renovations. Two brand new ATMs were added, and the security system is being updated. The place closed at one. There were four heavy duty trucks and two vans parked in the immediate area. Despite this, the floating book shop had a decent day. My thanks to Mr. Conspiracy, who bought a medical dictionary, as heavy a book as I ever sold; and also to the elderly woman who bought two Jodi Picoult novels; and to Bill Brown, author Words and Guitar: A History of Lou Reed's Music, who bought two books in French and Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. Bill recently did a book signing at an independent book store in Manhattan. Of the six people who spoke to him, four bought the book. Kudos, sir.
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