The Writer's Life 3/14 - Skin

Pedro Almovodar has written and directed 34 films. Set in Spain, they are unconventional and feature characters on the fringe of society. Some of events turn the stomach, a lot is riveting. He has no qualms about nudity, and gender-bending is a frequent theme. Last night, courtesy of Netflix, I watched The Skin I Live In (2011), a creepy amalgam of horror, sci-fi and drama. It stars the dapper Antonio Banderas as a brilliant doctor, a specialist in skin-grafting who pushes the boundaries of medical ethics, which leads some colleagues to question his sanity. Almodovar leaves it up to the audience to reach conclusions about the psychological makeup and motivations of the players. Fortunately, the action concludes decisively, although the rest of the victim’s life is open-ended, begging speculation. The film is based on Tarantula, a novel by Thierry Jonquet. The script was co-written by Almovodar’s brother Augustin. 87,000+ users at IMDb have rated it, forging to a consensus of 7.6 of ten. On a scale of five, I rate it four. Although the subject matter is outrageous, the execution is for the most part sober. It is not thrill-a-minute Hollywood fare. The pace is measured. Anyone lacking patience should pass. It is subtitled and runs almost two hours.

I've been using IE the past two days, which has solved my pop-ups problem. Unfortunately, I have no sound and videos won't load. Earlier, I uninstalled Firefox. I just upload the latest version and the problems returned with it. I will use it only for Facebook, which apparently has its own security blockers. I love the videos folks post there.

The floating book shop was rained out today. My thanks to my buddy Bags, who bought Rising Star. His band is One Above, Two Below. He has just acquired a new toy that allows him to remaster his tapes through his PC. Here's a link to his band's website. If you like hard rock, you won't be disappointed:  http://myboomerplace.com/OneAboveTwoBelow
Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5

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://tinyurl.com/pdxwsnt

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/