ABOUT ME... 2006-07ish

Thanks for checking out the new and improved About Me page, which isn't really changing that much. I'm updating my 20-something status to early 30-something, downplaying the MOVIE I made and SCREENPLAYS and PLAYS I wrote, and refraining from talking about the comic MYSTERY NOVEL I'm revising. If you're interested in hearing about these projects--and they're good works, in my humble and others' more forceful opinions--please e-mail me and I can fill you in, maybe even let you read or see something.

I live in midwest America, FYI. Below is a list of personal interests and influences.

INTERESTS/HOBBIES/PROCLIVITIES

WRITERS

Let's start with writers. Every person or project in every section of this page has as a common denominator a willingness to look at the world in a fresh and unique artistic way, to score off the rules and strictures established by their predecessors. I'm a big fan of verbal comedy and satire: in plays, such as CHRISTOPHER DURANG's "Marriage of Bette and Boo" and "The Nature and Purpose of the Universe;" ERIC OVERMYER's "On the Verge;" TOM STOPPARD's "Rough Crossing" and "Arcadia;" EDWARD ALBEE's biting "A Delicate Balance" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" In books, P. G. WODEHOUSE remains at the top of the list. Brit comedian HUGH LAURIE wrote a smart and surprisingly gripping Wodehouse-meets-LeCarre spy novel called "The Gun Seller." I'm also a fan of screenwriters ERNEST LEHMAN (Hitchcock's "Family Plot" and "North by Northwest") and COLIN HIGGINS ("Harold and Maude," "Silver Streak") and celebrated directors like the COEN BROTHERS (so talented, so diverse), WOODY ALLEN and WES ANDERSON.

Straying into the fields of fiction, MERVYN PEAKE's fantastically dense world of Gormenghast castle in his Titus Groan books was a pleasure to discover. ROSELLEN BROWN writes incredible, close-to-the-nerve prose that is more immediate and haunting than any of her contemporaries; she penned the domestic murder drama "Before and After," but the book that breaks my heart remains her collection of interconnected short stories on inner city life, "Street Games: A Neighborhood." One of the best and most educational reads recently was MICHAEL FRAYN's wonderful comic novel "Headlong." As for mystery novels, I'm a big fan of author NICHOLAS BLAKE (as was Gladys Mitchell); highly recommended is the ingeniously structured "The Beast Must Die" and the exciting wartime adventure "The Smiler with the Knife." I grew up on AGATHA CHRISTIE, but I grow restless trying to read her as an adult. Her plots are brilliant and much more logical than Ms. Mitchell's, but her writing doesn't carry the same resonant richness. The Father Brown short stories by G. K. CHESTERTON have a uniform superior quality that rarely wavers. Presenting baffling mysteries in the form of paradox, that which seems to have no explanation (such as the gun fired into the building wall, the man who disappears from a guarded room on the fifth floor, and his body is discovered hanging in a tree a distance away, all in "The Miracle of Moon Crescent") turns out to have a rational and even ordinary one (ditto). Chesterton's prose verges on poetry, and his crime stories are a pleasure to read.

MUSIC

My musical tastes are all over the map. I tend to like musicians and artists who are innovative and offer up something new, regardless of style and genre. I'm a big fan of VELVET UNDERGROUND, NINA SIMONE, STEPHEN SONDHEIM, RUFUS & LOUDON WAINWRIGHT, JACQUES DEMY, SMASHING PUMPKINS, DANNY ELFMAN & OINGO BOINGO, ELVIS COSTELLO, GREEN DAY, JILL SOBULE, MORPHINE, RANDY NEWMAN, LEONARD COHEN, BRENDAN BENSON, MICHAEL NYMAN and classical composers like CHOPIN, ELGAR and opera composer VINCENZO BELLINI.

My favorite artist is BEN FOLDS, whose catchy, original compositions feel "right" when played on the piano (his instrument of choice). Songs like "Philosophy" or "Missing the War" or "The Luckiest" progress naturally, almost organically, and one's fingers glide to the chords and keys in a natural flow that guitar-based songs can't translate to the keyboard. Plus, Ben Folds is an extremely inventive songwriter; his music can be sublimely silly and decorous or simple and heartfelt.

TELEVISION

There's infinitely more on the telly that repels than attracts; however, a couple shows bear mentioning. It's no coincidence that many of my favorite shows premiere on the BBC; British television is better written (therefore, of better quality) than American T.V. I'm a fan of the following: the great crime series CRACKER with the great Robbie Coltrane; FRENCH & SAUNDERS and just about anything else Dawn and Jennifer put their minds to (ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS, THE VICAR OF DIBLEY); UK's QUEER AS FOLK; the JEEVES & WOOSTER adaptations; BLACKADDER, THE YOUNG ONES, MONTY PYTHON (of course) and FAWLTY TOWERS. Though I grew up on prime-time romantic mysteries like REMINGTON STEELE and MOONLIGHTING, I don't bother with any current U.S. programming, save THE SIMPSONS and occasionally DAVID LETTERMAN. I enjoyed the first season of HBO's THE SOPRANOS, and in the past have been caught up in TWIN PEAKS and the wonderful original run of COLUMBO from the early '70s, repeated on late night television. I'm also a huge fan of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, a show which feels like it was custom-made for me. I haven't seen any of the Mrs. Bradley mysteries adapted for the telly, and I'm not sure that I care to see them. I've heard unflattering things from some true Mitchell fans, and Diana Rigg is not an easy fit as Mrs. Croc, if Ms. Mitchell's vivid descriptors are to be obeyed.

MOVIES

I gravitate toward films with a unique viewpoint, great writing and an intelligent story, rare but not nonexistant elements for a movie. Many of my favorites fall into a category of dark, dark humor: Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL, Kubrick's DR. STRANGELOVE, John Waters's SERIAL MOM, HEATHERS (script by Daniel Waters), TO DIE FOR (script by Buck Henry), HAROLD AND MAUDE (script by Colin Higgins), the Coen Brothers' FARGO, Sidney Lumet's NETWORK and Peter Greenaway's DROWNING BY NUMBERS all top the list. I'm also a fan of that sub-sub-genre, the subversive musical: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, SOUTH PARK: THE MOVIE, THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH all provide great entertainment. (There's even a stage musical version of William Goldman's suspense murder novel "No Way to Treat a Lady," and it's got great songs and lyrics, e.g. this taunt from the killer to the cop on the telephone: "Have a pen and paper ready, I'll say this only once/ she lies at 30 Riverside, apartment 14B/ as in 'Be' there just as quickly as you can./ I didn't have the energy to leave her sitting up/ so I propped her on the pink divan...")