THE AUTHOR MARKETING CLUB
‘THE STONE MAN’ – FREE UNTIL SATURDAY
Just a quickie; The Stone Man has three free listing days that need using up by June, so I’m using ’em. I’ll be honest, since Amazon took down the tags on KDP listings, the free days (for me at least) aren’t the nuclear promotional option that they once were. Either way, if you fancy sharing the link, that’d be great. It’s quite a long book, and it’s FREE; whatcha got to lose?
THE OL’ DARTS BLOG
To learn more about MY books (Woo!) visit www.lukesmitherd.com where you can buy them for Kindle.
TOP TEN ‘CHOBBING’ FILMS / HOW TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL CHOB
Here’s an old post I put on my old Facebook page a few years back; it might make you laugh and explain the concept of proper chobbing to you, if you don’t already get it. Remember: there’s a very key difference between just watching bad films and proper chobbing. Read on.
by Luke Smitherd (Notes) on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 5:06pm
…well, today’s list, anyway. I’ve done this pretty much on the fly, and I’m sure I’ll look at it tomorrow and go ‘What was I THINKING?!’ but here it is. These are not just the selection of memorable chobs (otherwise In The Mouth Of Madness and The Kiss would be in there) but chobbing films that I look back on and think ‘Ah…that’s a great chobbing film.’
If you don’t know what chobbing is, it’s hard to explain, but the best way I can put it is there’s watching proper, quality, well-made films and then there’s chobbing. Chobbing cannot be performed solo, and due to the nature of the films involved, picking a quality chobbing film is hard (because the film itself really shouldn’t be quality.)
A common mistake is to get a shit film and think you can just laugh at how shit it is. This isn’t true. You will not find it funny or entertaining because it will be fucking boring. Plus, a chobbing film doesn’t necessarily have to BE shit, just a bit daft and over-the-top (see: Total Recall, Mortal Kombat, TimeCop.) The first key to a truly great chobber-from multiplex international releases to straight to DVD low budget efforts-is a distinct lack of logic or effort on the part of the filmmakers, and any other icing (poor acting, cliched dialogue and characters, hilarious deaths, and ridiculous character decisions) is a bonus. The second (and for the me, the most important of all, no matter what the chobbing film) is PACE. If it’s cheap and crap and badly acted,this won’t actually be so-bad-it’s-good, it’ll just be dull, dull, dull. BUT if it rattles along nicely, you will have a great chob; so-bad-it’s-good only works if the pace stops you getting bogged down in the shitness. If the Paceometer is through the floor the wrong way, you are in for a poor time.
Generally, horror, sci-fi, and martial arts films are your best bet.
So, to help you get started, here’s a sample of my current Top Ten Chobbing Films Of All Time, in no particular order. If I’ve forgotten any honourable mentions, do tell me:
1.Braindead (Believe or not, the director went on to become Peter ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Jackson. Paceometer off the charts.)
So, there you have it. Get some friends, some booze, some food, and rent any of the above for a great chob.
To learn more about MY books (Woo!) visit www.lukesmitherd.com where you can buy them for Kindle.
4 TERRIBLE FILMS THAT HOLLYWOOD ACTION STARS HOPE YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT
Douglas does his absolute best to save this disaster of a ‘comedy’, gamely playing his scenes for laughs and almost managing to pull it off thanks to his natural comic timing, but with a script that must have written by someone who decided that comedy=extremely slow and drawn out set pieces that end when something falls on Kirk Douglas, and with Schwarzenegger delivering his lines like Stephen Hawking’s computer was his voice coach, this horrific mash-up of cartoon action done on a budget normally reserved for church raffle prizes and ‘jokes’ with all the wit of a hippo covered in cement ends up being so torturous that the descendants of people forced to sit through it regularly wake up in the night, sweating after nightmares of falling boulders and anvils that are obviously made of polystyrene coming to bounce ineffectively and ‘hilariously’ off their heads. Years later, professional wrestler Mick Foley would take the name Cactus Jack as one of his many in-ring personae, with the idea being that CJ was by far the most brutal of all of his characters. Brutal is right.
To learn more about MY books (Woo!) visit www.lukesmitherd.com where you can buy them for Kindle.
THE SADNESS OF DOG TV
GETTING STARTED, WRITING WARM-UPS, AND ONE TWO FIVER
Once upon a time there was a pig called Steve, unremarkable in appearance and manner, but reknowned amongst the other animals on the farm for being an all round likeable chap. Whenever, say, one of the lambs were worried about their first shearing, or one of the horses were concerned about the appearance of their coat, or the cockerel was feeling inadequate in his role as leader of poultry, all would come to Steve for a kind word, sage advice, or just to have a friendly pig’s ear to talk into.
And so it was in this manner that the farmhouse cat came to Steve one day, leaping up onto the wall of the pigsty and nervously clearing his throat. Unfortunately, this also caused the start of a hairball retch, but once he’d cleared it he regained his composure. The cat rarely deigned to put in an appearance with the farmyard animals; they thought him aloof, he secretly thought them uncultured, but there was no genuine malice between them. Even so, his appearance at the pigsty was a mild surprise, and all the pigs-including Steve-turned to look at him. Trying to look and sound casual, the cat spoke.
“Yes,” said the cat, feigning a casual air, “I…I’d like to talk to Steve please, if he has a minute?” The pigs all turned to look at Steve, who blushed slightly. It looked unusual on a pig.
“Um…of course,” replied Steve, finding himself feeling strangely nervous, “What’s the matter?” The cat didn’t respond at first, and instead just looked around, scratching at his neck in a manner that was supposed to look relaxed but actually just made him look even more furtive.
“Any chance,” said the cat finally, inspecting some unseen object in the middle distance and still not addressing Steve directly, “We could talk a little more privately, Steven?” Steve bristled slightly at this (easy for a pig) as he didn’t like being called Steven. It reminded him of his mother, long since taken away to what the animals called ‘The Happy Pasture.’
“Nope,” replied Steve, bolder now, “I think we’ll talk right here, actually.”
To learn more about MY books (Woo!) visit www.lukesmitherd.com where you can buy them for Kindle.
SELLING MORE BOOKS ON THE KINDLE STORE…BY BUYING MORE BOOKS ON THE KINDLE STORE?
To learn more about MY books (Woo!) visit www.lukesmitherd.com where you can buy them for Kindle.