by Michael Seese
The moral of the story this week is always write. A few months back I jotted down 50 or 60 words about a remorseful alcoholic, and kept it in a doc on my tablet called "Flash Ideas." Then along came this week's Janet Reid short story contest. And voilà!
The key words were:
dixie
eleven
lies
home
mom
And I saw immediately how they could fit into the existing story. With that, I give you "Footsteps."
Seven years of the bottle had taken its toll. My nights melted into one continuous blackout. My days, one continuous black. I hear people escape it. The lies. The shame. The regrets.
I won't be one of them.
As I blew out the candles, precariously punched into a lopsided homemade cake, I wished my Dixie cup held something more fortifying than fruit punch.
“How will you celebrate your newfound freedom?” my Mom asked.
“I thought I'd take my shiny new driver's license out for a spin. Drive around a bit. Maybe pop over to the 7-11. They're still open, right?”
Only a LITTLE depressing.
Results (hopefully) tomorrow on Janet's blog.
And as always, please let me know what you think.
Showing posts with label lost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lost. Show all posts
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Castle: "In Plane Sight"
by Michael Seese
CLAUSTROPHOBIC.
That's the mood you get when you put 200+ passengers, one killer, and a snake** on a transatlantic flight.
** Perhaps *I* read too much into it, but the previews made it look as though the snake had some relevance. NOT!
I definitely enjoyed "In Plane Sight," and appreciated the out-of-the-box thinking on the part of the writers. As I've said in the past (too many times to cite here) I consider the show's setting -- New York City -- as a character in its own right. (Of course, I like New York City.) So I often feel something is missing when a given episode takes place elsewhere. But not this time. Probably due to the aforementioned
CLAUSTROPHOBIA!
And SPOILER on the way!
Bragging aside: I nearly called it. I suspected it was one of the flight crew, though my attention turned to Farrah when she was able to understand what suspect #1 (Aiman) was saying after he locked himself in the bathroom. So I was close.
I really liked the playful banter between Castle and Alexis at the beginning.
Castle: "Air, by nature, should not be bumpy."
Alexis: "You should really focus on something else, or it will seem longer. For both of us."
Castle: "You don't want to miss the home of Sherlock Holmes."
Alexis: "You do know he's fictional, right?"
Castle: "Yes, but his address is real."
That pretty much sums up the humor, other than Castle's look when one of the flight attendants said they even searched the overhead bins for the missing air marshal.
Oh, one more:
Castle: "I saw this on MacGyver. You know, I actually got to meet Richard Dean Anderson once..."
A few other notes:
You gotta love the shout-out to "Lost," vis-à-vis the name of the airline. (But alas... the wrong flight.)
Early on, the captain came out to consult with the flight crew. Then she announced she would go back to the cockpit and stay in lockdown mode. I'm not up on airline regulations, but I would suspect that if the air marshal turned up missing, lockdown mode would start immediately, and the captain wouldn't set foot outside the cockpit.
It was a nice touch to have Alexis diffuse the situation, accompanied by heraldic music.
And finally, I chuckled at Castle's booze grab at the end.
Next week's installment, "Dead From New York," looks hilarious.
Let me know what you thought of "In Plane Sight."
CLAUSTROPHOBIC.
That's the mood you get when you put 200+ passengers, one killer, and a snake** on a transatlantic flight.
** Perhaps *I* read too much into it, but the previews made it look as though the snake had some relevance. NOT!
CLAUSTROPHOBIA!
And SPOILER on the way!
Bragging aside: I nearly called it. I suspected it was one of the flight crew, though my attention turned to Farrah when she was able to understand what suspect #1 (Aiman) was saying after he locked himself in the bathroom. So I was close.
I really liked the playful banter between Castle and Alexis at the beginning.
Castle: "Air, by nature, should not be bumpy."
Alexis: "You should really focus on something else, or it will seem longer. For both of us."
Castle: "You don't want to miss the home of Sherlock Holmes."
Alexis: "You do know he's fictional, right?"
Castle: "Yes, but his address is real."
That pretty much sums up the humor, other than Castle's look when one of the flight attendants said they even searched the overhead bins for the missing air marshal.
Oh, one more:
Castle: "I saw this on MacGyver. You know, I actually got to meet Richard Dean Anderson once..."
A few other notes:
You gotta love the shout-out to "Lost," vis-à-vis the name of the airline. (But alas... the wrong flight.)
Early on, the captain came out to consult with the flight crew. Then she announced she would go back to the cockpit and stay in lockdown mode. I'm not up on airline regulations, but I would suspect that if the air marshal turned up missing, lockdown mode would start immediately, and the captain wouldn't set foot outside the cockpit.
It was a nice touch to have Alexis diffuse the situation, accompanied by heraldic music.
And finally, I chuckled at Castle's booze grab at the end.
Next week's installment, "Dead From New York," looks hilarious.
Let me know what you thought of "In Plane Sight."
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Castle: "Kick The Ballistics"
I could get used to writing something about "Castle" each week.
I enjoyed this week's episode. Of course. I liked that this show built upon a previous one, and that the story arc is still not finished, one would assume. I'm not saying a show should be a complete serial, like "Twin Peaks" or "Lost." But having one or two continuing threads keeps the viewer on his toes.
It was nice to see the focus on Ryan. Too many shows devolve into The Star(s), and the spare parts.
At one point, Ryan tells Beckett about the dumbest thing he ever had done as a cop: he had called out the name of a narc informant in the middle of the squad room, which at the time was full of busted drug dealers. Five minutes later, Beckett reveals the name of the undercover cop (he went by "Seth;" I forget the detective's real name) to Mr. Lee, head of a crime family. What's up with that? Careless mistake? Or was she setting him up?
On the downside, they did something that I had seen on several episodes of "Law & Order," which always made me shake my head way back when. In the L&O episode I'm thinking of, the police find a woman who has been tortured to within an inch of death. She's alive, but she's not yet able to talk to them. So they question her ex-husband. His alibi is that he was with a buddy at some high-society fundraiser. The next scene shows (we assume, then learn) the buddy walking out of his swank tennis club, talking back over his shoulder to the police officers. "Yeah, he was with me that night until around 2:00 a.m. Blah, blah, blah." As he gets into his car, one of the officers asks, "Do you know who could have done this?" "No," he says. "And I hope I never meet him. He sounds like one sick bastard." And then he drives off. And I remember thinking, "Well, I see you have decided that the police are done. I hope they feel the same way." The same thing happened on "Castle." At some point, the bar owner says, "You can wait for Seth. I've got to get to work." And then he walks away.
Finally, I liked the surprise ending. If I can some day convince someone that it's worth it to publish "Tarantulas On Leashes," "Swarm Summer Nights," Udopia,"and especially No Strings Attached, you'll see what I mean.
I enjoyed this week's episode. Of course. I liked that this show built upon a previous one, and that the story arc is still not finished, one would assume. I'm not saying a show should be a complete serial, like "Twin Peaks" or "Lost." But having one or two continuing threads keeps the viewer on his toes.
It was nice to see the focus on Ryan. Too many shows devolve into The Star(s), and the spare parts.
At one point, Ryan tells Beckett about the dumbest thing he ever had done as a cop: he had called out the name of a narc informant in the middle of the squad room, which at the time was full of busted drug dealers. Five minutes later, Beckett reveals the name of the undercover cop (he went by "Seth;" I forget the detective's real name) to Mr. Lee, head of a crime family. What's up with that? Careless mistake? Or was she setting him up?
On the downside, they did something that I had seen on several episodes of "Law & Order," which always made me shake my head way back when. In the L&O episode I'm thinking of, the police find a woman who has been tortured to within an inch of death. She's alive, but she's not yet able to talk to them. So they question her ex-husband. His alibi is that he was with a buddy at some high-society fundraiser. The next scene shows (we assume, then learn) the buddy walking out of his swank tennis club, talking back over his shoulder to the police officers. "Yeah, he was with me that night until around 2:00 a.m. Blah, blah, blah." As he gets into his car, one of the officers asks, "Do you know who could have done this?" "No," he says. "And I hope I never meet him. He sounds like one sick bastard." And then he drives off. And I remember thinking, "Well, I see you have decided that the police are done. I hope they feel the same way." The same thing happened on "Castle." At some point, the bar owner says, "You can wait for Seth. I've got to get to work." And then he walks away.
Finally, I liked the surprise ending. If I can some day convince someone that it's worth it to publish "Tarantulas On Leashes," "Swarm Summer Nights," Udopia,"and especially No Strings Attached, you'll see what I mean.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Another Poem
This one is kind of a downer. I was thinking about a friend who lost his young son a few years ago, and these words came out.
Lost
All life can be lost
In a flash,
In a heartbeat
Right before your eyes.
But if we dwell on the possibility,
The probability,
The certainty. . .
Then living is lost.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)