Film and Television
Fall Season Promo of the Week: Bright New World of ABC
I miss those fall preview promos with the catchy jingles that the networks used to run during the summer…so I am going to be sharing some of those golden oldies over the next few weeks.
Review: 101 Best TV Crime Series
I'm a sucker for books about TV, so I couldn't resist nabbing Mark Timlin's 101 BEST TV CRIME SERIES. Let me state at the outset than I am a fan of Timlin's books, so if I had a bias going in, it was a favorable one. That didn't last long.
The pluses are that Timlin, a top-notch mystery author himself, is a real fan of the genre and he writes in a casual, easy-going style. As a whole, the book provides a nice overview of a bunch of UK series that are probably obscure and unfamiliar to most U.S. viewers.
The cons, however, far, far outnumber the pluses. Apparently, Timlin's actual knowledge of the shows he's talking about isn't as strong as his admiration for them…and nobody bothered to fact-check the book, so it is filled with cringe-inducing errors and unfortunate omissions.
For example:
1) he refers to the lead of THE FUGITIVE as Dr. David Kimble when, of course, everyone knows it's Dr. RICHARD Kimble.
2) He says the iconic IRONSIDE theme was composed by Oliver Nelson when it's actually among Quincy Jones' most famous pieces of music (Nelson supplied some of the episodic scores, but didn't compose the theme).
3) He says that the Quinn Martin shows had a voice over that went "This has been a Quinn Martin Production" when, in fact, each show opened with the narrator announcing the name of the series, followed by the words "A Quinn Martin Production."
4) He says the UK LIFE ON MARS began with DCI Sam Tyler walking down a Manchester street, listening to David Bowie on his iPod, when he's hit by a car. That is, in fact, totally incorrect, making this reader wonder if Timlin actually saw the show he was writing about.
5) When discussing HARRY O, he says the hero was an ex-LA cop. He was actually an ex-San Diego cop.
I could go on and on. Beyond the numerous errors, there's also a lack of detail. For instance, when referring to KOJAK, he mentions the 2005 remake with Ving Rhames but either completely overlooked, or was totally unaware of, the six KOJAK TV movies Savalas did on CBS, and later ABC, a decade after the original series was cancelled. In fact, almost all the entries suffer from a paucity of useful information in favor of irrelevant, personal asides by the author ("Oddly enough, it was 'Hill Street Blues' that got me my first video recorder; back when it started, I was offered a job driving a loser heavy metal band called 720. The show had just started and I took the job o the condition that the manager paid for the hire of a VCR. He agreed. Blimey the thing was the size of a suitcase…") Maybe Timlin is a celebrity in the UK, and the readers there are more interested in his asides than information about TV cop shows, but it doesn't play on this side of the pond.
One other beef…I found Timlin including his own series, SHARMAN, among the best TV Crime Series to be more than a little self-indulgent (although he didn't write the entry, he had someone else do it, which only makes the inclusion feel even more self-serving). If only he'd given all the other series mentioned in the book the same loving attention as he did his own (he gives THE SOPRANOS three tiny paragraphs, but the short-lived SHARMAN gets four pages!).
Overall, unless you can get this book at a major discount, I'd skip it.
Big Island Film Fest Day 4
REMAINDERED screened today and received a very enthusiastic reaction from the audience. That was nice, but I have to say we're up against some stiff competition. I've seen a lot of great shorts this week…and every single one that I saw today was very well done, particularly THIEF, about a little boy who befriends a young Saddam Hussein in 1959 and then comes face-to-face with him again in 2003. It's not going to be easy for the judges or the audience to pick a best short from among so many fine films.
Before the screening, I spent some time on the beach. I glanced to my left and was startled to see Harlan Coben staring back at me. Alas, it was not the man himself but his enormous photo on the back of a hardcover book that a tourist was reading. I took a picture of the tourist, which I emailed to Harlan, then chatted with the guy, who was very nice. He's a salesman for a big drug company that is rewarding its best reps with an all-expense-paid trip to Hawaii that also includes elaborate banquets by the beach, tons of free tours & activities, cash money for expenses, and goodie bags in their rooms each day stuffed with things like Raybans and cameras. I should have been a Viagra salesman instead of a writer. 
After the screening, I drove up to Waimea to Huli Sue's Barbeque. Their ribs aren't bad but what I really went up there for was their incredible Banana Cream pie…which may just be the best Banana Cream Pie on earth.
Then it was back to the Fairmont Orchid, where I hunkered down to work on MONK…well, that was the intent, instead here I am writing this post.
Tomorrow is the Golden Honu Awards Brunch, a concert, and the Best of the Fest screening. In between, I'm going to try to squeeze in some more lazing around.
Big Island Film Fest Day 3
Not a whole lot to report. I spent my morning on the beach then showered, changed, and watched a few of the short films in competition in the afternoon. The screening room was actually a screening room…something I didn't expect to find at a hotel.
The short films were very uneven…one was really good, one was absolutely awful in every possible way, one was so flat I've already forgotten it entirely and one was so heavy-handed and cliche-ridden that I was able to successfully predict, almost word-for-word, exactly what each character was going to say before they said it.
I spent the rest of the day in the lounge, working on my next MONK book, which is due in a few short weeks. Writing is so much more pleasant with a breath-taking ocean view and a hostess bringing you food and drinks.
At nightfall, I dropped my computer off in my room and went to another outdoor screening under the stars. All three films tonight were good…but the best was a feature length, black comedy from the UK called THE DRUMMOND WILL. It was shot in black-and-white and starts off very slow…with two estranged brothers arriving in a strange village for their father's funeral… but events soon escalate into a hilarious farce with an ever-rising body count.
Tomorrow REMAINDERED screens, so I'll be spending most of the day watching short films. I'll probably skip the night screenings to work on my book…
Big Island Film Fest Days 1 & 2
I’ve been having a great time at the Big Island Film Festival on the Big Island of Hawaii. I arrived on Wednesday night, showered, and hurried over to the Mayor’s reception, where I chatted with some of the other film-makers, who have come from all over the U.S. and a few from overseas. Then I headed over to the Shops at Mauna Lani for an outdoor screening of a handful of short films. You couldn’t beat the venue…watching movies under the stars with a gentle sea breeze. The films themselves were well-made but suffered from very, very predictable, by-the-numbers story-telling.
I played hookie from the Festival during the day on Day 2. You’d have to be insane to fly all the way to paradise to stay indoors when it’s gorgeous outside. So I hung out at the beach, where the sand and pavement were so hot, you could get third degree burns if you walked barefoot. Just about eveyrone has a Kindle, which is frustrating, because I can’t tell what strangers are reading any more.
I intended to do some writing, but failed. I swam, I walked, I read, I ate, I sweated. A perfect day. After dinner, I went to the night-time screenings, held under the stars at the Fairmont Orchid Plantation House. The films this time were much better than the previous evening…particularly the short COLD SORE and the hilarious, uniquely Hawaiian feature GET A JOB…but is there a rule somewhere that there has to be at least two zombie movies at every film festival? I have totally over-dosed on zombie movies. 
My plan today is to do some writing (I can feel my deadline like a physical presence in the room) out on the lanai overlooking the water, take a swim, a long walk, and then attend the evening screening again. REMAINDERED plays tomorrow…
(Click on the images for a larger view.)
Hawaii Lee-O
I am off to Hawaii this morning to attend the Big Island Film Festival, where my short film REMAINDERED is in competition. I'm really looking forward to the trip…I haven't been back to Hawaii since I was Toastmaster at Left Coast Crime two years ago and I absolutely love it there, which is why I have set three books on the islands — Dead Space, Diagnosis Murder: The Death Merchant, amd Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii. Who knows, maybe a fourth book will come out of this trip.
I'll try to report back with photos and highlights from the festival.