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Saturday, October 28, 2017

The Writer's Life 10/28 - Life & More

Movies are often variations on others. Such is the case with Life (2017), which I caught up to last night courtesy of Netflix. It is a more cerebral, less gory Alien (1979). A space station crew of six is analyzing a little organism plucked from Mars. It begins to grow into something like an aquatic, octopus-like creature. Naturally, it becomes hostile, and the crew has no option other than to figure out how to kill it. If that fails, they must find a way of keeping it away from Earth. As expected in the age of CGI, the effects are spectacular. Seamus McGarvey's cinematography is beautiful. I enjoyed the story despite its familiarity and predictability. I loved the ending, although it did not surprise me. Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson and Ryan Reynolds, are as proficient in their roles as always. The film was directed by Daniel Espinosa, a Swede, his sixth stint at the helm of a full length feature, none of which has been a breakout flick. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who have extensive credits in TV, collaborated on the screenplay. It is solid work, nothing more. Made on a budget of $58 million, it returned more than $100 million worldwide, which should keep the creative team working. 128,000+ users at IMDb have rated Life, forging to a consensus of 6.6 on a scale of ten. It runs only 104 minutes, a plus. It's likely restricted to fans of sci-fi. I was unable to find a good picture of the creature. Here is the best:



There's more good news on the economy. Despite the hurricanes, GDP came in at 3.0 for the third quarter. If it is nor revised downward at a later date, that would make two straight quarters of three or above. Second quarter growth was revised upward to 3.1. It's still a far cry from the desired four percent, but encouraging.

Cihan, a young man, approached and asked if I had any books on business. I pointed out several. He scanned the entire display for more, noticed Exchanges, picked it up, read the blurb on the back, and added it to those he'd selected. When I told him I was the author, he gave me $20, twice as much as I'd asked. It was the first street sale of one of my books since October 1st. My thanks, sir. His name is of Turkish origin and means world or universe. My thanks also to the gentleman who purchased Unsolved Mysteries of Science: A Mind-Expanding Journey through a Universe of Big Bangs, Particle Waves, and Other Perplexing Concepts by John Malone, to the woman who bought Thin for Life: 10 Keys to Success from People Who Have Lost Weight and Kept It Off by Anne M. Fletcher and The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw, and to the couple that selected three books in Russian. I had a visit from Bad News Billy. He's four months behind on his rent and attributes it to forgetfulness caused by the heart medication he's taking. I hope he hasn't been throwing around money like he has at times at the floating book shop. To thank him for his past generosity, I gave him something for his grandson, a DVD set of the He-Man animated series.
Vic's Sixth novel: http://tinyurl.com/zpuhucj 
Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc
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