The Writer's Life 8/22 - Grand

Wes Anderson has been a critics’ darling. I’d seen several of his films and didn’t get what was special about them. I passed on those whose subject matter didn’t interest me. I reluctantly added The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) to my Netflix list at the recommendation of a friend. I’m glad I did. It is colorful and quirky, so unlike 99% of film fare. Set in the 1930’s, it was inspired by the writing of Stefan Zweig, who was completely unfamiliar to me. The story has an author checking into the hotel and meeting the owner, who invites him to dinner and promises to tell the story of how the hotel, which is dying, came into his possession. The sets are often animation-like, the action at times mechanical. It had me wondering if this was how the author, played by Jude Law, was imagining the owner's narrative, developing it in his mind, knowing he would soon put it to paper. It features one of the greatest casts ever assembled: F. Murray Abraham, Ralph Fiennes, Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Jeff Goldblum, Edward Norton, and several notables I didn’t recognize in costume: Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson and Bob Balaban. I would not have recognized a completely bald Harvey Keitel if not for his voice. Maybe my eyes are getting as bad as my hearing. At least this film has close captioning, so I never lost track of what was happening. It was nominated for nine Oscars, won four. It is the only one of last year’s nominees I’ve seen so far. 375,000+ users have rated it at IMDb, forging to a consensus of 8.1 of ten. On a scale of five, I rate it four. Anyone who appreciates "different" should give it a look. It runs only 99 minutes. I look forward to seeing it again -- and spotting the actors I missed the first time through.

SF Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner has 15 wins -- and five home runs. Heading toward the home stretch, the Dodgers and Nationals, each highly touted, seem like pretenders rather than contenders. Then again, does any team stand out as a clear favorite?

Has the long overdue stock market correction finally arrived? Has the bubble burst? I’d contemplated selling my stock in Comcast and Time Warner, but I hate to give up those that pay dividends. I passed up sizable profits.

I’d put together a file of 31 short stories, ten or so of which have not been published in magazines. Since it was only 88,000 words, I decided to add a one-act play and two screenplays, bringing the word count to almost 130,000. If I go with it, I’ll drop the screenplays from my Amazon author list. I regret having listed them separately, even though they sell for only a dollar. It didn’t occur to me to make them a double feature until after I’d posted them and several people bought. Kindlers will now get a lot more bang for their buck. I won’t begin finalization until the weather gets too cold to sell books on the street. There will be a print edition as well.

One of my best customers showed up today. He always buys my least marketable books, usually non-fiction, and did so again. My thanks, and also to the other kind folks who made purchases.

Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic'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/l84h63j

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/