Lately, I seem to spend as much time editing other people’s posts as I do writing my own—not that I’m complaining, mind you, since I basically brought it upon myself. Some months ago, I invited my daughter, Alexandra, and her godfather, Gilbert Colon, to contribute guest posts to this site, knowing that they both love to write, not surprisingly share many of my interests, and lack the forums of their own blogs, like those of Simon Drax (currently on hiatus but overflowing with nutritious backlog) or the mighty Turafish. The fruits of Alexandra’s labors have already started to appear here, with the first two installments of her well-received “Chicks in Action Flicks” series, which I am proud to say required but the barest of cosmetic changes by Your Humble Correspondent.
After mulling over possible topics for some time, Gilbert settled on a subject that has long fascinated both of us, a phenomenon that—as far as we know—doesn’t have a formal name. It’s that subgenre of the biopic in which the protagonist is a historical artist of some kind, usually a writer, but instead of being a more or less straightforward account of his life, the film has him actually enter, interact with, or prefigure his own artistic creations. Gilbert was thinking in particular of this year’s The Raven, in which Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) is recruited to trace a serial killer inspired by his own stories, but amusingly, a much earlier precedent is the rock-bottom exploitationer The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe (1974), starring a perennial BOF bête noire, Robert Walker, Jr.
“Huzzah,” says I, “make it so,” and sent him off on his merry way to put pen to paper…but a funny thing happened on the way to the blog. First, he put it on the back burner to write his nice article on Person of Interest for SF Signal (to which I believe Drax gets the credit for steering him), where he had already rhapsodized about Douglas Trumbull and, God bless him, gotten further exposure for his interview with me regarding Richard Matheson on Screen. I was honored to do a little modest blue-penciling on all of those, as well as his long-awaited biopic piece…which, since much of its content was decidedly fantastique, he then decided—with my blessing, naturlich—to pitch to SF Signal, where it has now appeared..
So I’m still waiting for my guest post from Gil, but that’s fine. The longer I wait, the more exposure my little buddy gets (on a real website, yet), which was sort of the idea in the first place. You go, boy!
Yet another shout of HURRAH for Gilbo! SF Signal should put him on the payroll!
Hey, I pay just as well!
Indeed, a great round of applause Uncle Gilbert’s many accomplishments! I am flattered and humbled to have my writing placed side-by-side with such masters as these.
Well, you know, I only invite the best to play in my sandbox.
Associating with others who are successful help to make us successful as well, don’t you think? Or is that just wishful thinking on my part. : )
Absolutely true, thanks!