The Writer's Life 9/21 - Rockin'

NY Post film critic Lou Lumenick has written an article on Sergio Leone's gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America, of which a third incarnation will soon be introduced on DVD. It was first released in 1984, ran 2:19, and was a major disappointment, confusing everyone. The master of the spaghetti western, who died in 1989 at the age of 60, shot ten hours of footage. It was re-released in 1984, ran almost four hours, and was highly praised. That version is rated 8.4 of ten by more than 170,000 users at IMDb. The latest adds 29 minutes to the epic, pushing it over four hours. Louise Fletcher, so memorable as Nurse Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), has finally been reclaimed from the cutting room floor. When it becomes available I'll add it to my list at Netflix and watch it in installments over a few nights. I can already hear that damn phone ringing endlessly.

I am no fan of career politicians, especially liberals, but I think the recent criticism of VP Joe Biden's use of the words Shylock and Orient is silly. It is clear that he wasn't intentionally or unintentionally ridiculing Jews or Asians. True, Shakespeare's immortal character is a Jew, but, in my experience, Shylock is now applied to gangsters, many of them Italian-American. It is a perfectly good word, its meaning obvious. As for "orient," Biden was citing an area, and anyone within listening distance immediately knew what he meant. The watchdogs are way off base on this one. Even if the criticism came from the right to highlight the media's glossing over of the bad behavior of the left, it's wrong. I suppose a firestorm would have arisen had a conservative made those remarks, and it would have been just as ridiculous. The grievance mongers are tedious dingbats.

Speaking of tedious -- enough already on Adrian Peterson, Ray Rice and all other NFL boneheads. Anyone with any common sense condemns their actions. Move on.  

Yesterday I recalled a comment a friend made regarding my pending rock n roll epic, Rising Star, and the TV show of the same name. Suddenly it occurred to me that any search on my novel would be dwarfed by information regarding that program. A change of title is imperative. The first I thought of is Rock n Roll Hearts. I googled the phrase and, as expected, it has been used often. Since the book won’t be ready until late winter/early spring, I have a lot of time to think about it and hope that an appropriate title comes to me, as it did for Exchanges, which fits perfectly. So far I’m considering Rockin’, and Rockin’ the World, neither of which I’m crazy about. I'll have to run a search on the latter, as it likely has been used. I have what I believe is an effective tagline: Sex, Drugs, Rock n Roll. It too has been and continues to be used, but I wouldn't expect potential readers to use it to seek information on the book.

It was an all-male revue today at the floating book shop. My thanks to the guys who bought and donated books.

Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/rP7o9

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/