The poll closed earlier today and the gizmo that computes the percentages tells me that Jean-Pierre Jeunet is the people’s choice with 22 votes or 33%.
The runners-up are:
Tim Burton: 14 votes (21%)
Chan-wook Park: 13 votes (20%)
Neil Jordan: 11 votes (16%)
Alex de la Igelsia: 2 votes (3%)
F Gary Gray: 2 votes (3%)
Mira Nair: 1 vote (1%)
The Jeunet retrospective will kick-off in the summer.
March was a complete no-hoper with regards to the Personal Faves, Work Sucks and Hellraisers series. Things were a little better on the Operation 101010 front:
Clint Eastwood movies
None yet. The Agitation of the Mind will focus on Eastwood’s career during May, leading up to the icon’s 80th birthday.
Werner Herzog movies
1. Little Dieter Needs to Fly
2. Wings of Hope
Anime
1. My Neighbour Totoro
2. Sky Blue
3. Ponyo
Gialli
1. All the Colours of the Dark
2. Blood Stained Shadow
3. The Black Belly of the Tarantula
Documentaries
1. The Aristocrats
2. An Inconvenient Truth
3. Anvil: The Story of Anvil
4. Iron Maiden: Flight 666
Eurovisions
1. Amarcord
2. Winter Light
3. All About My Mother
Comedies
1. Intolerable Cruelty
2. Kissing Jessica Stein
3. In the Loop
Biopics
1. Sylvia
Impulse buys
1. Rise: Blood Hunter
2. Stoned
Films with numbers in the title
1. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
2. 49th Parallel
Finally, a small announcement:
I started this blog, as I started MovieBuff Redux on Platform 27 before it, as a fun thing to do in the gaps between undertaking proper writing projects (ie. chipping away at my lifetime’s ambition of making it as a novelist). With the exception of a failed attempt in late 2008/early 2009 to drag what was essentially a short story out to novel length, I’ve singularly failed to do any serious work towards this end.
Last month, as an early birthday present, my wife paid for me to attend a creative writing course at the Nottingham Contemporary, hoping it would kick-start my dormant ambitions. Good call on her part. I’ve completed two stories since the course finished mid last week, and I’m now fervently doing research and sketching out some preliminary material for what might (whisper it softly) become a novel. A friend of mine, a talented young artist, has expressed interest in working with me in developing a graphic novel version.
I’m not going to say anything more for fear of jinxing myself, but I need to do a hell of a lot of reading by way of research, then I want to apply myself fully to the project. I can’t maintain the current rate of blogging at the same time, but by the same chalk I don’t want to put The Agitation of the Mind on hold. I’ve invested too much of myself in it and built up a decent readership.
So I’m going to take a fortnight’s break, then re-approach the blog mid-April with the intention of posting at least one (and hopefully two) reviews per week. At this rate, I should still complete Operation 101010 by the end of the year, even if on/off projects like the Personal Faves or Hellraisers might have to take a back seat. (In the interests of new material for Agitation, if anyone would like to submit a guest article, I’d be happy to feature your work; email me: slainte at inbox dot com.)
Likewise, if my proliferation in leaving comments on other sites lapses over the coming months, please don’t think I’m being anti-social. I’ll still be reading your sites in whatever time there may be available when I ought to be working.
Awesome, man. Great to hear you're working on a writing project! I hope all of that works out for you. I'm also pretty stoked that Jean Pierre Jeunet won the poll! Can't wait to hear your take on his movies!
ReplyDeleteI hear ya Neil! Priorities are priorities man! Do that novel, you got talent for writing! What genre are you working in?
ReplyDeleteIm currently working on a script myself, for my next movie. Its turning out nicely, its something along the lines of Falling Down and The Wrestler, you know, a poor guy trying to survive in the crazy system we live in. Ive hit a snag in the story, where Im still trying to decide where to take the story, but Ill pull through. Important thing is to actually sit down and write, it helps sometimes to write stream of consciousnes style, let it all out, and then iron it out.
Good luck with your future novel man!
But I gotta tell you Neil, you have an excellent blog going on, its one of my favorite reads!
Wow, good luck on the novel. I can only imagine the work that such a thing entails. Oh, and when it comes to blogging just remember, internet fame does not equal a paycheck ;)
ReplyDeleteCongrat's Neil,
ReplyDeleteI'll miss Agitation, but I'm happy you're getting to do what you want.
I just finished the first draft of my book. I'm giving it a good three months simmer before I start the second. Its going to be brutal. There will be blood. Pinhead is going to come out of the pages and moan "WE HAVE SUCH WONDERFUL THINGS TO SHOW YOU!"
But if I can offer one bit of advise, don't let yourself get discouraged until you hit 60,000 words. Once you break "Novel length" its like this huge mental block just goes away.
Kudos, Neil. That's awesome. As someone who is juggling writing their own book and maintaining their own blog I feel your pain. ; )
ReplyDeleteThanks, guys. Your support and advise is appreciated.
ReplyDeleteAaron - yeah, I was glad Jeunet topped the poll. Even including 'Alien Resurrection' (which takes a pretty funky approach to things), I haven't seen a single Jeneut film I didn't like ... and most of them I outright love.
Francisco - the projected novel is in the sci-fi genre, but more in the alternative history vein. Think 'The Man in the High Castle' filtered through early-to-mid 20th century Russian SF and rewritten by the Monty Python team. At least that's the idea ...
Troy - I've attempted the novel form before and made a right pig's ear of it, so I've got a grimly realistic idea of what I'm up against, but the idea behind the novel is so cool (it makes use of several historical figures) that I owe it to myself to shoot for it.
Bryce - yeah, I remember the second draft of my Peckinpah book. That sinking feeling of having to completely re-engage with something you thought you'd finished. Realising where the faults lie. Cursing myself for making some obvious mistake. All I can say is: persevere, my man; if the quality of writing on your blog is anything to go by, your book will be worth it. (Thanks for the advice re: the 60,000 word mark. I'll definitely keep that in mind.)
J.D. - juggling novel and blog is going to be a bugger, but there's no guarantees with the novel whereas I already have an incredibly supportive readership on the blog (as evidenced by this comments section!) which is why I want to maintain a steady, if vastly reduced, stream of new material on Agitation.