GREETINGS & SALUTATIONS
In this edition:
The Paul Giamatti issue!
Two new novels land at Short People!
The January challenge: A new flash fiction EVERY DAY. FOR A MONTH!
2024.
The new year is supposed to arrive in an all-singing, all-dancing fashion. There are meant to be resolutions, plans for the year, lists made… Not this year.
Watching the New Year’s fireworks with such terrible boredom (honestly, after a while it all looks the same as the year before, and the year before that…). It was hard to muster any enthusiasm for 2024. Admittedly I had spent the whole of Christmas feeling unwell and was rather hacked off when it was all over.
But it was what it was. 2024 poked its head around the door and crept in with no fanfare.
At times it feels like just another set of numbers we spend a year with before they are stored away in a box marked ‘history’. At other times, I exclaim with dismay at the distance of time:
Thirty years since Blur’s Parklife, REM’s What’s the Frequency, Kenneth and the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage/Ill Communication. Thirty years since Forrest Gump, True Lies, The Lion King and The Mask. FORTY years since Madonna’s Like a Virgin, Chaka Khan’s I Feel For You and Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas. FORTY YEARS since Gremlins, Beverly Hills Cop, Purple Rain, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
What the heck?
And then there are those personal moments in our lives which we naturally reflect upon. Thirty years since I first worked on a film. Twenty years since I last made my own film.
Which leads us to…
JUST ONE MORE THING…
I recently attended a talk run by Ignite Chelmsford about gaming culture. The main speaker was game creator AJ Grand-Scrutton of Dlala Studios (creator of Battletoads and Disney Illusion Island). It was fascinating to hear AJ talk about his experience, how perilous the gaming industry is and his general pearls of wisdom (“If you’ve got time to play games you’ve got time to make games” was a personal favourite!).
One moment struck me, as AJ spoke about his career and how one event led to another (bigger) event which led to this, which led to here: all disconnected moments, yet the pathway of fate. Sometimes it felt like it was going wrong, the stress was piling up, and still… One thing leads to another.
It made me think about how our stories have beats and how we rarely/never realise at the time.
If teenage me hadn’t met with the special effects wiz Christopher Tucker (which seemed like a breakthrough, then a huge disappointment) -
I never would have volunteered at the theatre…
… which led to college/working in Soho’s television industry…
… which led to meeting people who motivated me to meet Quentin Tarantino…
… which led to working on film sets…
… which led to making my own films… and writing many scripts, then novels!
There are many more beats, but all of it eventually led me to get married and have kids. Evaluating who I am, understanding where I have come from, how I have changed and who I am now.
What are the stepping stones in your story?
MY SUBSTACK RECOMMENDATIONS
looks at likeable characters in books, and how we’re not here to make friends with them. has emerged into the lush pastures of Substack, which no doubt means we should all up our game even more. I started by polishing my trainers and running a comb through my poor attempt at a moustache.This month’s Short People Highlights
My first two novels are now available to read in the entirety - so what are you waiting for?
Throughout January I have written a piece of flash fiction every day! They are all available to read, and I even created a handy table of contents for the lazier of you out there.
CINEMA
Poor Things
My first trip to the cinema this year was an unforgettable one! There is no other film like Poor Things: it is darkly comic, infinitely quotable, incredibly grotesque whilst disturbing and depressing. It is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, but one to have long arguments about. Is it a feminist film told with a male gaze? Is it about men trying to control women and failing miserably?
Adapted from the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray, Poor Things is essentially Barbie for grown-ups (a woman in sort-of safe bubble gets a taste of the outside world and discovers that a lot of men are horrendous) but if Barbie was a horrific, controversial, explicitly bawdy, nightmarish fairy tale. Probably not one to repeatedly watch, even though there’s a lot to admire performance-wise: Willem Dafoe is exceptional (yet is being overlooked by the awards for some reason), Mark Ruffalo is frankly bizarre, and Emma Stone should win the Oscar for her portrayal as Bella Baxter: She utterly throws herself to the wall as Bella, the re-animated woman with a baby’s brain. (see?)
ON THE BOX
Saltburn
I caught up with this over Christmas, by which point the hype surrounding it had hit hysteria pitch. If I’m honest, the first half an hour brought me out in a cold sweat. Circumstances may have been different, but let’s just say I was once in Oliver Quick’s shoes (whilst at Oxford - I draw the line at drinking nasty bath water!). The class differences were exactly as depicted in the film. That Farleigh character? I’ve had the displeasure of knowing an alt-version of him. Being treated as a subhuman serf, all of that - even hearing Jacob Elordi’s character Felix repeatedly punctuating sentences with ‘mate’ - it was like a PTSD flashback.
Where the film ended up was somewhat predictable, and didn’t quite dive deep enough under the skins of the characters, but it is one of those films which, like Poor Things, sticks in the brain like a fever dream.
Fargo (Season 5)
The Coen Brothers multi-verse remix continues with its best season yet. I’ve always had a teensy bit of hate-watch with Fargo: It is always exceptionally well-made, utilising a brilliant cast, but at times found the references to the Coen Brothers film to be a tad distracting (S5 includes a replica of a famous scene from the movie Fargo: See above). It takes me out of the story as I sit up in my seat, pointing at the television like Leonardo Di Caprio in THAT meme. It’s the equivalent of a greatest hits compilation shoved through a wood chipper and reconstructed. Same but different, and if that’s the case, why not just watch the source material?
That said, S5 mostly avoids those trappings and has a slew of brilliant characters who inhabit a Trumpian/MAGA parable. Jon Hamm is DE-testable as the get-off-my-land Proud Boy Sheriff, Juno Temple is an unlikely but resourceful heroine and Sam Spruell’s Munch comes across as a mix of movie Fargo’s Grimsrud and No Country For old Men’s Anton Chigurgh, mixed with Werner Herzog. If he were a hitman.
Fargo delights in playing on what you know, leading you up the garden path before throwing a curve ball. Or not. And it is brilliant.
Slow Horses (Season 3)
Slow Horses has been consistently great since S1, and it remains the best show on television right now. Dryly hilarious and nail-biting in equal measure, with a great cast and characterisation, and no filler. It leaves you wanting more whilst thankful that it didn’t run to more than its 6 episodes - it tells the story and gets out whilst the going is good. The plot always keeps you guessing, the political backstabbing and one-upmanship brings intrigue, but the character interaction is the most enjoyable part.
LISTENING
What I’ve had on rotation this month:
READING
I’m currently reading Bob Mortimer’s autobiography And Away… (which I received at Christmas - thank you, Mrs. W!). It’s one of those books which is heartfelt and hilarious at every turn. I love an autobiography where the subject’s voice comes through loud and clear - thoroughly recommend it!
PLAYING
The kiddies finally got a PS5 at Christmas, putting an end to months of speculation about when they will finally get to play Spider-Man 2. I’ve managed to sneak in some game time, and it is business as usual so far! *Which is to say bloomin’ brilliant.
PODCASTING
Paul Giamatti has been cleaning up at all of the award ceremonies of late for his performance in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, so what better time than now to start listening to his podcast!
I love listening to UK comedy producer Gina Lyons - mainly because she always talks so much sense, and is very real about the dire situation of television in the UK. As always, this podcast is no exception about the realities of trying to survive in the TV industry (and what to do when work dries up).
ELSEWHERE
To celebrate Paul Giamatti’s win at the Golden Globes for The Holdovers, here he is looking back at some of the characters he’s played. (And yes, he should have won an Oscar for Sideways!)
WRITERS’ CORNER
Scribe Lounge is a community of writers who share the highs, lows and all the stuff in-between! There are often excellent video chats with industry names, so sign up, create a profile and you’ll feel less alone on the journey!
BEST OF FIVE:
Paul Giamatti has been one of my favourite actors since I first saw him in the Howard Stern movie Private Parts, and he has cropped up in many big films in small roles (hello My Best Friend’s Wedding and The Truman Show), and criminally wasted in the likes of Jungle Cruise and The Amazing Spider-man 2. For too long we’ve waited for Giamatti to achieve the recognition he deserves, and hopefully, he will get his due at the Oscars.
Sideways
American Splendor
Billions
Private Parts
Big Fat Liar
(I’ve not seen The Holdovers yet because my local MULTI-SCREEN cinema isn’t showing the multi-award winning, only-movie-I’ve-really-wanted-to-see-for-ages. Grr.)
Joy Snack
There’s a person in our “village” who likes nothing more than to drink tea at any hour of the day. Some days he has a furry friend over for company. He’s out there, all weather, all the time. But he looks like he enjoys it. We haven’t spoken yet, but I’ll often give him a nod when I walk by.
I recently added the script of Backstabbers Episode 1 to my website (AND the entire novel available on Short People). So check out a playlist of each episode’s opening/closing credit songs to give you a flavour of what to expect
Thank you for reading Short People!
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