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Posts made in June 6th, 2012

  • Carol Wolf is the hero of her own autobiography, and Tay is her supporting actor, though he doesn't see it that way.

    One of the best things about starting out as a writer by writing plays, is that your characters talk back to you. Literally.

    For example, you sit down at the first rehearsal of your play, with the actors reading around the table, and at the end of the reading one of the actors says, “Why do I pour out my sister’s glass of milk?” And the fact is, the reason Jasper pours out his sister’s glass of milk is that I need the glass to be empty so that Aunt Ada can hilariously fill it with the potion she has made, causing the girl to speak the truth at the worst possible moment . . . But you can’t say “Just because,” to an actor. Actors can’t do something “just because” and be true to their character. And since they are creating a whole world (the world of the play) by being true to its realities, and their conviction is what convinces the audience, and if they don’t have that, they’re just a bunch of people messing around on stage. So you cannot arm your actors with lies. So in the rewrite, Jasper poured out the milk because he has been warned that the milk has been cursed, and then he thinks it’s true because of the effect it has on his sister.

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  • As a kid I became aware of the classification ‘anti-hero’ relating to 70s movies (Travis Bickle, Paul Kersey), but my definition of  the term starts with a paperback ‘pulp’ novel series, Don Pendleton’s The Executioner

    Begun in 1969, The Executioner told the story of Mack Bolan, a decorated Viet Nam vet, whose family is destroyed by the Mafia (father gets in with the sharks, kills mother and self, brother is killed by mobsters, sister is forced into prostitution).  Bolan returns to the States and, using his military skills, declares war on them.  He spends the next thirty-eight books (from #1 War Against the Mafia to #38, Satan’s Sabbath) murdering hundreds, thousands of mobsters and causing all kinds of mayhem among organized crime.  However–he never kills civilians, and always goes out of his way to save them.  He’s known as ‘The Executioner’ on the battlefield, but also as ‘Sergeant Mercy’ because of his concern with the innocent victims of war.  He never hurts cops, and always plans for getting the non-combatants out of harm’s way.  Brave, honest, dedicated to his friends and his sense of honor, Bolan is a perfect ‘classical’ hero…plus, he kills a lot of bad guys.

    That is an anti-hero. 

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