PCR past banners Now in our fourth calendar year
PCR #180  (Vol. 4, No. 36)  This edition is for the week of September 1--7, 2003.

LA FLORIDIANA
Florida's Gardens Up Front and Personal -- Part One
by Will Moriaty
THIS WEEK'S MOVIE REVIEW
"Dickie Roberts"
 by Mike Smith
COUCH POTATO
Sci-Fi Hunks and Babes (or is Salma Hayek the Frank Frazetta girl?)
 by Vinnie Blesi
ASHLEY'S HOLLYWOOD
"Filthy" the official premiere reviewed!
 by Ashley Lewis
CREATURE'S CORNER
"Hollywood, Horrorwood" (Pillars), Part 3
 by John Lewis
SPLASH PAGE
Gay World.....One Shots....Movie News....Things I Didn't Know But Maybe I Should Have
 by Brandon Jones
MATT'S RAIL
Answering My Critics
 by Matt Drinnenberg
MIKE'S RANT
You Never Give Me Your Money....Welcome To The 21st Century (RS's Top 10 Guitarists)....Passing On
 by Mike Smith
Archives of Nolan's Pop Culture Review
Archives 2003
Archives 2002
Archives 2001
Archives 2000
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Creature's Corner

Hello Fright Fans, kiddies, and PCR regulars:
You have probably noticed that I missed a week with my column. No excuses or disclaimers this time around. I finished the column and should have sent it but I wanted to add some things. I got too busy (how do you like that English) and decided to just send it Friday morning. The problem was that I couldn't get a connection to that lovely piece of highway we call the internet. I didn't send it until a few hours later and missed my deadline for inclusion. Those here in the "castle" were aghast at the thought of no corner nor any mention of "them" (no, not the Giant Ants , they are "THEM"). Anyway, the bright side is that CC appeared earlier last week than usual. So now I'm ready to tackle part three of "Hollywood, Horrorwood" (listed in last week's edition as "'Pillars', part 2"--N)). Before I do that, though, I have to tell you about a couple things I did this last week. (I promise it will be brief.)

First, we finished shooting "The Phone Call" Saturday night (and well into the pre-dawn hours of Sunday morning). We start editing on Monday. This short is my contribution to the genre known as "Zombie Movies." I'll keep you posted as editing winds down. We are also just about ready to release "Permanent Job" on an unsuspecting world. All that's left to be done is to score the film and add titles.

Anyway, here is this week's chapter of "Hollywood, Horrorwood."

After April first,1992 I really began to wind down, producing less work on the novel as the months went by. Basically, I was running out of steam. Sure I still had the ideas but they were becoming tedious to translate from the brain to the page. The demons were winning. I was losing the battle to finish the next great "American Novel." Between April 1, 1992 and September 20 1993 I only produced a mere fifty pages of work. Fifty pages in seventeen months. After that I stopped writing for over two years and ten months!!! The writers block Demons had finally won. During my time away from "Pillars" I never even gave it a thought to finish it.

Something happened in 1996 that would change all that. The muse (which had been banished to a lingering , fiery torture chamber) broke free and returned with a vengeance. It seemed like quite a few people were asking me what became of my project. I told them that it had been put on hold due to working full time. That was the excuse. The real reason was the demons had succeeded in holding me back, their snarling with teeth bearing grins drooling with a sickly, yellowish-green saliva held me at bay while their incessant staring with sickly yellowed eyes kept my mind full of the awful and grotesque visage they presented in place of the words needed to complete my novel.

Suddenly I was blinded by an inner light that broke the demonic spell which held me captive. I quickly seized the opportunity to grab a shotgun and proceed to blow those sneering grins right from the Demons which held me in their grasp. The pair of fowl denizens from a place beyond imagination, ran off screaming. They would not soon return. Almost immediately the ideas began to reappear. It was like being lost in a harsh desrt with no hope for survival and accidently finding a little valley (protected from the blazing sun) where everything was green and thriving. A waterfall flowing from the very face of a huge mountain reaching into the clouds seemed to be spewing out page after page of fresh ideas that were cool and inviting to the touch. I had found the sacred valley that many writers visit so frequently. The secret had been revealed. I stood up with pride and waved at the muse who had been hiding behind a nearby tree. I was ready again to resume the responsibility of raising my "child."

I ran back to the dumpster I had flung it in ( relax, this is just a metaphor) and luckily the dump truck had not arrived. (Talk about slow service.) I cradled the infant in my arms, tracked down the faceless demons which held me hostage for over two years, and spit in the gaping holes that used to be their faces (it's true, you can't kill a demon, but you can sure screw them over). I then returned home and finished my book. On May 5, 1997 I finished "Pillars Of Fire." In that ten month period I wrote Three- hundred- twenty pages. People close to me during this time continually asked how it was going I would tell them bits of the story without revealing the "hooks." Inevitably they would all comment by saying the words that would finally sink in about a year and a half later,"That would make a Great Movie." I finally decided they were right (though I think I knew it all along) and in February of 2000 I decided to try and Tackle "Pillars Of Fire," the screenplay.

See ya next Week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a Great Weekend.


"Creature's Corner" is ©2003 by John Lewis.  Webpage design and all graphics herein are creations of Nolan B. Canova.  All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2003 by Nolan B. Canova.