THE FISHERY: a diary of the Loose-Fish Project

We’ve had Alternate Reality Games. Now there’s a new Social Reality Game (SRG):

Nowheremen

Check out a new online fiction project:  Shadow Unit, written by an impressive roster of authors -  Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette, Emma Bull & Will Shetterly.

As we get ready for the start of the fifth and final season of The Wire, I think it’s fitting to say a few words about just how much this show, and much of David Simon’s work, has had an impact on me.

Chuck Palahniuk, writing about Amy Hempel says:

When you study Minimalism in the novelist Tom Spanbauer’s workshop, the first story you read is Amy Hempel’s The Harvest. After that, you’re ruined… every other book you ever read will suck.

This is how I feel about The Wire.  It makes me hate most every other show on TV.  It makes me cringe at easy resolutions, dumbed-down problems, and any character who isn’t simultaneously a saint and a bastard.   It makes me furious at a nation of stroy consumers who havbeen and continue to be trained to accept simple explanations to their infinitely complex world.
I recently rewatched the first four seasons in preparation.  They are so dense and satisfying I could watch them all over again from the beginning.

Bawlmor slang has crept into my everyday vocabulary, and I find myself calling people “Bunk” and “Shitbird.”

There are several people in the building where I work who have Emmy Awards, and every time I see one, I’m tempted to snatch it and hand deliver it to Andre Royo.

Simon and his collaborators have been doing this to be for years.  I was a devoted fan of the show Homicide, and its brilliant performances - particularly Andre Braugher, Jon Polito and especially the seven-year journey into the heart of darkness undergone by Kyle Secor’s character Tim Bayliss.  (Sadly, I’ve been rewatching the early episodes of this show, and next to the Wire, they look forced, unreal, positively quaint.)

The book and later miniseries of The Corner is so unsettling, that years later I get chills just thinking about it.

Behind all of these, Simon’s first book - Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets - stands as one of the three of four best books I’ve read in my lifetime.  I was raised in a staunchly liberal/lefty do-gooder home.   One of the things I picked up along the way was a complete distrust of anyone wearing a police uniform, and the unhealthy attitude that anybody in a position of authority was solely and simply a tool of the powerful.  Simon’s book obliterated that notion, and forced me to try to look past my prejudice towards people who I perceived to be on the opposite side of my interests, or at least recognize and be uncomfortable when I don’t.  I’ve carried that lesson with me.

I’ve seen the first two episodes of the final season of The Wire, and I’m greedy for the rest, even though I know there will be no more.  There’s a moment in the beginning on the second episode (not a spoiler, don’t worry), in which Bubbles walks to the front of a group of people.  The light through the window is gleaming, brilliant, and for a second as he walks into it, it looks as if he’ll be bathed in its healing glow.  But then the light overpowers him, leaving him an island of darkness, emphasizing the shadows which cling to his body.  It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen on a television screen.

Thank you, David Simon - the Great Shitbird of the Galaxy.

A happy New Year to you all.

While this space has been quiet, things behind the scenes at the Fishery continue at a brisk pace.

The Good Captain continues along, and I’ve gotten some lovely feedback from some readers.  I encourage you to post your reactions, plaudits, brickbats and queries on the Comment Thread.

While the intrepid Captain Lockham continues to plumb the mysteries of Captain Dziga’s ship, I’ve been immersing myself in work for our second project.  Spoon River Anthology is a book that most people know only though high-school reading assignments.  But as I’ve delved deeper into the work, I’m finding it to be an incredible rich, profound, heartbreaking, funny and profane piece of work.  My adaptation concept has changed about a half-dozen times as I pass through more and more layers of this complex world created by the fascinating E.L. Masters.

One invaluable resources has been the great Definitive Online Edition of Spoon River Anthology, assembled by Paul Houle. Go over there and check it out - you’ll find some of my comments.

After Spoon River, there are two more projects I’m laying groundwork for.  More detail as they get closer to fruition.

We’re aiming to make 2008 a year of exciting and challenging stories.  Stay tuned for much more.

I’ve had a lot of folks tell me that while they’re enjoying The Good Captain, they’re not sure if they’re reading it the right way.  To which I tell them that however they read it is the right way.  Below I’ve compiled numerous ways you can follow the story, depending on your taste.

Sign up for a Twitter account, go the the Good Captain twitter page and click Follow.  Through twitter, you can receive story updates via IM, text message or using one of many applications.  My preferred app is a Firefox plugin called Twitbin, which sits open in my browser sidebar.

To follow via email, you can sign up for an account at twittermail, and they will send your twitter updates to an address of your choosing. If you don’t want to sign up for a Twitter account, there are other alternatives.

Web:  you can read at your leisure or catch up with updates you’ve missed at GoodCaptain.com, which redirects to the twitter page.  
News Reader: subscribe to the RSS feed here.  
Also, the most recent updates will also be available on the sidebar of this blog.

The Twitter Fan Wiki has a giant list of other applications and tools you can use to follow the story in just the way you want to. 

My good friend Julie is a script reader and consultant. She runs a wonderful site for screenwriters called The Rouge Wave, so named after he favorite script typo.

Today, I’ve got a guest post at her blog talking about Loose-Fish, and I go into a little more detail about how I arrived at this point coming out of my frustrations with the screenwriting process. It might ruffle a few feathers. Check it out when you get a chance.

Let us know what you think. Conchord commenting rules apply.

An LA Times interview with Herskovitz about why he’s stopped producing for television and has turned to the web for his new show, Quarterlife.

The first twitter fiction I ever saw was Zombie Attack, a first person account of, well, a zombie attack. Zombie Attack went quiet back in July, but yesterday, they started updating again. Welcome back!

Our presentation went very well, and a lot of folks seems to be interested in what we’re doing.  Here are the slides we used to present.  I read the text (or a loose approximation of it) and Bronwen controlled the slides.There is an audio recording of it, and I will try to get my hands on it.  It includes the  Q&A period afterwards.