April Round-Up
Happy birthday to meeeee!
GREETINGS & SALUTATIONS
In this edition:
April: Officially the best month of the year
I’m still playing Fallout 76, and I don’t care if it crashes. Honest.
Fallout is finally here!
A quiet month on here, because it’s April: The time for Easter AND my birthday! Two weeks with the kids off school, followed by my birthday - what more can I ask for? It’s like Christmas but without the stress of trying to get everything right. And all my favourite apps give me free birthday stuff too, so what more can I ask for?!
After my March meetings with Tall Story Pictures, I have been very busy restructuring Backstabbers AND adapting/restructuring Backstabbers II! It has not been easy - a bit like juggling fifty balls at once - but it’s slowly coming together, and I know it’s going to be much better for it… but it is taking all of my concentration right now.
One piece of advice I received from Phil Hunter (from TSP) was to study some of his previous shows like Vera, and write down how the story opens, what information lands just before the ad breaks, and of course, how the episode ends. I’m pretty confident that my stories have these points - they just need to fall in the right place.
So I looked at what my A-Plot is (murder-mystery), and then my B-Plot (Stu’s will they/won’t they relationship with Lena) AND a C-Plot (Stu’s hopes and fears) and made an Excel sheet to map out not only where these plot points land, but ensuring each episode refers to these three plot strands at the start, middle and end of each episode. Sometimes it’s all there, other times one or two plot strands need some perking up. And sometimes these plotlines weave through each other. See? Juggling.
This month’s Short People Highlights
CINEMA
CHALLENGERS
It’s all about the game - tennis, that is - for Zendaya, who gets to display superb psychological backhanders as she messes with the minds of two old tennis pals. Z plays a former superstar tennis player who suffers a career-ruining injury and moves into coaching but still hasn’t left behind her winner-takes-all mindset.
Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist are also excellent as the two childhood friends whose playful rivalry is manipulated to the point of “new balls, please” by Zendaya, who portrays the anti-hero to scowling perfection.
Written by Justin Kuritzkes, the story timeline jumps back and forth, revealing just the right information at the right time - for such a simple premise the masterstroke is in the telling, manipulating the audiences’ sympathies and allegiances.
This is an audacious and, at times, gloriously camp movie about three people living rent-free in each other’s minds. The direction by Luca Guadagnino and cinematography by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom are superb (expect Oscar nods next year), and the domineering 80’s vibe score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is enjoyably bonkers.
GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a film so utterly bonkers, but it was nice just to sit back and watch the madness unfold. It’s the perfect film for ten-year-olds: Monsters beating the hell out of each other and destroying entire cities which would no doubt result in hundreds of thousands of deaths, but hey: It looks cool! Rebecca Hall is the human glue which holds the set pieces together, Dan Stevens is a mix of Ace Ventura and Star Lord, and Alex “Trevor from ‘Stenders” Ferns brings the gruff. Skull Island is still the best in the series, but GxK is daft fun.
CIVIL WAR
America turns on itself in this well-made movie by Alex Garland. Firstly, if you’ve seen the trailer then I would say this is not THAT movie: It’s a head trip dressed up as photojournalists on the hunt for the President’s final moments. It doesn’t get into why the war started, the different territories (there’s not much to differentiate one from another, or is that the point?)… I admire Garland’s work: He’s always coming from a place of interesting ideas, but quite often doesn’t land without losing the wheels. It’s tense, gripping, and features the best use of a De La Soul song since Spider-man: No Way Home, but the characters end up playing second fiddle to the big idea.
ABIGAIL
Films which starts as one thing and then veer sharply into another generally work best if the “twist” is kept hidden - but this also means the trailer HAS to show the twist for it to sell the idea! So for the sake of those who know nothing about this film, I won’t spoil anything: What I will say is it’s dumb fun with buckets of splatter thrown to the walls which gets sillier as it goes on until it’s just things throwing other things around the room. What lifts this movie out of so-so characterization is the decent cast: Melissa Barrera is the dependable lead, Dan Stevens has his fun again, but the real standout is Kevin Durand as the big lug comic relief.
TELEVISION
FALLOUT
FINALLY IT’S HERE! This was the most excited I’ve been about any film or TV show for years, and it didn’t disappoint. It succeeds in capturing the spirit of the games completely, with lots of me-pointing-at-the-tv-screen moments of recognition. The cast is great (including a career-defining turn from Walton Goggins as The Ghoul), and thankfully the game’s sense of humour is fully intact. There was only one moment that made me think “nah” involving a finger or two, but on the whole, it’s a very successful adaptation.
STEVE!
A two-part doc looking at the life and times of Steve Martin, with the first part covering his stand-up career (which is all voice-over), and the second part focusing on his movie career (which, thankfully, features the man himself). I enjoyed it all, but kind of wished we could have seen Steve reflecting on his stand-up career in person rather than just his voice (I would have also preferred a more in-depth look at his movie career), but on the whole I enjoyed it.
READING
As I write this, I read that Harvey Weinstein has had one of his rape convictions overturned. *FACEPALM* If you were ever in doubt of what an absolute horror show of a slimebag HW is, then read this book.
I watched the film adaptation of ‘She Said’ last year, and have finally caught up with the source material. As expected, it’s a gripping, anger-provoking account of Harvey Weinstein’s many crimes and the bravery of the women who stood against him. Thoroughly recommended.
LISTENING
PLAYING
FALLOUT 76
As the show has just premiered, of course, I’m going to mention this as I’m always playing it! So if you want to come and say hello I’m GrandTheftUFO.
Game creator Bethesda announced that Fallout 76 experienced its first million players in one day, which is amazing for a game which has been out for so long (the other Fallouts have also experienced a surge of interest - over 5 million players across the board since the show debuted).
BUT: Where were these players before? Are these the same players who endlessly trolled the comment threads moaning about the game? Can’t help but think if players had got behind it earlier on we might have had better updates from Bethesda (who are FINALLY upgrading and expanding the map! Although this has come at a cost: Fallout London has been delayed because of the upgrade.)
ELSEWHERE
At the end of 2023, Chelmsford finally got its own Black Sheep Coffee (hooray!), and these days I seem to live in there, ensconced upstairs on the comfy chairs (hopefully). It’s the best place to work-and-have-a-decent-cuppa, and a darn sight more chilled out than most other coffee shops.
Finally, here’s what else has kept going (musically) this month: as I’ve been working on Backstabbers II (‘87), here’s a playlist of what will be featuring (in some sort of order, so yes, it opens with a recap of BS1’s ending)… ‘til next time…
Thank you for reading Short People!
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Happy birthday month to you!