Ace of Spades HQ

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December 24, 2004

Big Project Done

Sorry I've been such an absentee blogger. Long story short, turns out a friend from college actually made himself some pretty decent connections in Hollywood, and that he actually likes a script I wrote some time ago and have had no luck getting read by agencies or studios.

I had to spend the last three days giving it a last edit and generally putting it into good shape.

Anyway, that's done now. For the next couple of days, my only excuses for not blogging will be sloth and "too much nog."

Merry Christmas Eve!

posted by Ace at 03:09 PM

Comments

PLease tell me its a "Buddy cop" picture starring Eddie Murphy and Johnny Coldcuts! That would be the Best. Movie. Ever.

Posted by: senator philabuster on December 24, 2004 03:18 PM

Hey Ace, outstanding! I'll be praying for you. Just remember us little people when you make it big!

And to all the Ace-Of-Spaders: Merry Christmas!

Posted by: BrewFan on December 24, 2004 03:26 PM

Ace,

Good luck with the project and Merry Christmas.

David

Posted by: David on December 24, 2004 03:29 PM

Merry Christmas, Ace! I'll be pulling for you.

Posted by: JImmie on December 24, 2004 03:33 PM

I'd guessed as much, from previous comments you'd made. So, no plotline teasers for your faithful readers?

Best of luck with it regardless, and have yourself some happy and slothful holidays.

Posted by: Patton on December 24, 2004 03:46 PM

As someone who once cranked out a crappy screenplay, I know that's a tremendous grind. Congrats on finishing, keep us posted, and good luck!

Posted by: see-dubya on December 24, 2004 03:53 PM

I'd tell you what it's about, but then, the whole reason I'm anonymous is that so no one can connect me to it, you know?

I mean, what if the studio wants Margaret Cho for the female lead? You see the problems there.

Posted by: ace on December 24, 2004 04:01 PM

On second thought, given that Margaret Cho has about as much of a film career as John Wayne Gacy, I guess I have to admit that possibility is somewhat remote.

Posted by: ace on December 24, 2004 04:03 PM

I don't know, Cho would be perfect as the hooker with a heart of gold.

Posted by: Joe R. the Unabrewer on December 24, 2004 04:50 PM

Margaret Cho? - Lightning bolt, lightning bolt!

Posted by: RapidTransit on December 24, 2004 04:59 PM

Merry Christmas, Ace.

Posted by: Donnah on December 24, 2004 05:34 PM

Merry Christmas, Ace, and I think we'd all forgive you for blogging under the influence of Nog.

Posted by: Sobek on December 24, 2004 05:41 PM

Ace,

Congratulations.

Merry Christmas.

And thanks for lots of interesting stuff and good laughs during a long, tough year.

Lyle

Posted by: lyle on December 24, 2004 06:52 PM

Margaret Cho cast in your movie? Eewwww! That's a fate worse than, I dunno, unemployment or some such.

Seriously, congrats, Ace. When you make the big time you'll have to find a way to let us know it's you.

Posted by: keggin on December 24, 2004 07:12 PM

Go, nog!

Merry Christmas! Thanks for all the fun this year.

Posted by: m on December 24, 2004 10:10 PM

Wait, you don't think being known as "the guy behind Ace of Spades HQ" is going to cinch you the deal?

Posted by: someone on December 24, 2004 10:56 PM

So Ace could put Cho in just as a cameo, saying "It puts the lotion in the basket."

PS Merry Christmas! We're off to west-coast midnight service pretty soon. Hope all goes well with the nog-blogging!

Posted by: see-dubya on December 25, 2004 12:02 AM

thank you, i just wanted to give a greeting and tell you i like your blog very much.

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This is super-obscure and I only barely remember it. Given that, I'll give you the hint that it's by the Red Rocker.
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He means they tried to prove the signal was caused by things other than dimethyl sulfide but they could not.

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TJM talks John Boorman, director of Excalibur

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What? Skeleton of the most famous Musketeer, D'Artagnan, possibly discovered in Dutch church closet.
Dumas picked four names of real musketeers out of a history book, D'Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos. So there was an actual D'Artagnan, though he made most of the story up. (Or, you know, all of it.)*

Charles de Batz de Castelmore, known as d'Artagnan, the famous musketeer of Kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV, spent his life in the service of the French crown.
The Gascon nobleman inspired Alexandre Dumas's hero in "The Three Musketeers" in the 19th century, a character now known worldwide thanks to the novel and numerous film adaptations.
D'Artagnan was killed during the siege of Maastricht in 1673, and there is a statue honoring the musketeer in the city. His final resting place has remained a mystery ever since.

A lot of Dumas's stories are based on bits of real history. The plot of the >Three Musketeers, about trying to recover lost diamonds from the queen's necklace, was cribbed from the then-almost-contemporaneous Affair of the Queen's Necklace. And the Man in the Iron Mask is based on real accounts of a prisoner forced to wear a mask (though I think it was a velvet mask).
* Oh, I should mention, Dumas says all this, about finding the names in an old book, in the prologue to his novel. But authors lie a lot. They frequently present fictions as based on historic fact. The twist is, he was actually telling the truth here. At least about these four musketeers having actually existed and served under Louis XIV.
Fun fact: You know the beginning of A Fistful of Dollars where the local gunslingers make fun of Clint Eastwood's donkey and Eastwood demands they apologize to the donkey? That's lifted from The Three Musketeers. Rochefort mocks D'Artagnan's old, brokedown farm horse and D'Artagnan is incensed.

A commenter asked which should be read first, The Hobbit of LOTR?
Easy, no question -- read The Hobbit first. It's actually the start of the story and comes first chronologically. It sets up some major characters and major pieces in play in LOTR.
Also, the Hobbit is Beginner-Friendly, which LOTR isn't. The Hobbit really is a delightful book, and a fast read. It's chatty, it's casual, it's exciting, and it's funny. In that dry cheeky British humor way. I love that the narrator is constantly making little asides and commentary, like he's just sitting next to you telling you this story as it occurs to him.
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Oh, I should say: The Hobbit is written as if it's for children, but one of those smart children's stories that are also for adults. Don't worry, there's also real fighting and violence and horror in it, too.
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The Hobbit Challenge: Read two more chapters. I didn't have much time. Bilbo got the ring.
I noticed a continuity problem. Maybe. Now, as of the time of The Hobbit, it was unknown that this magic ring was in fact a Ring of Power, and it was doubly unknown that it was the Ring of Power, the Master Ring that controlled the others.
But the narrator -- who we will learn in LOTR was none of than Bilbo himself, who wrote the book as "There and Back Again" -- says this about Gollum's ring:
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In another passage, the ring is identified as a "ring of power."
I don't know, I always thought there was a distinction between mere magic rings and the Rings of Power created by Sauron. But this suggests that Bilbo knew this was a ring of power created by Sauron.
Now I don't remember when Bilbo wrote the Hobbit. In the movie, he shows Frodo the book in Rivendell, and I guess he wrote it after he left the Shire. I guess he might have added in the part about the ring being a ring of power created by "the Master" after Gandalf appraised him of his research into the ring.
I never noticed this before. I know Tolkien re-wrote this chapter while he was writing LOTR to make the ring important from the start. And also to make Gollum more sinister and evil, and also to remove the part where Gollum actually offers Bilbo the ring as a "present" -- Bilbo had already found it on his own, but Gollum was wiling to give it away, which obviously is not something the rewritten Gollum would ever do.
But I had no memory of the ring being suggested to be The Ring so early in the tale.

Finish the job, Mr. President!
Melanie Phillips lays out the case for the total destruction of the Iranian government and armed forces. [CBD]