Ok Disney, #WhatIf we replaced all of Richard E. Grant's dialogue in #Loki with his dialogue from Withnail and I? Would it still work?
"We've gone on holiday by mistake."
"All right, this is the plan. We get in there and get wrecked. Then we eat a pork pie. Then we drop a couple of Surmontil-50s each. That means we'll miss out on Monday but come up smiling Tuesday morning."
"I'm not having this shag sack insulting me. Let him get his drugs out."
"Nonsense, this is a far superior drink to meths. The wankers don't drink it because they can't afford it."
"Listen, we're bona fide, we're not from London."
"Fork it!"
"I'm in a park and I'm practically dead; what good's the countryside?"
"Monty, you terrible c*nt!"
"We want the finest wines available to humanity, we want them here and we want them now!"
See, it really does work: Withnail and Loki!
"Bastards! You'll all suffer! I'll show the lot of you! I'm gonna be a sta-a-a-a-ar!"
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"A dream to some. A nightmare to others!" As it's Christmas let's look back at a film that I think helped redefine an old genre, captivated the imagination and launched many successful acting careers.
Let's look at John Boorman's Excalibur!
For a long time the film industry found the King Arthur story amusing. Camelot (1967) was a musical comedy; Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) was pure comedy.
But director John Boorman had been thinking seriously about the Arthurian legend since 1969, particularly Sir Thomas Malory's 1469 telling of the story 'Le Morte d’Arthur'. The mythic theme greatly appealed to him.
Today in pulp I'm looking back at some Michael Moorcock books, and having a think about the New Wave of science fiction that started in the 1960s...
In Britain the New Wave is often associated with New Worlds magazine, which Moorcock edited from 1964 to 1970. Financial troubles caused the magazine to close in 1970, but it made sporadic comebacks over the subsequent years.
However he started as editor of Tarzan Adventures in 1957, where he introduced Sojan the Swordsman - perhaps his first stab at creating an 'eternal champion' character
Today in pulp I'm looking back at one of the greatest albums of all time.
What are the chances...
By 1976 Jeff Wayne was already a successful composer and musician, as well as a producer for David Essex. His next plan was to compose a concept album.
War Of The Worlds was already a well known story, notorious due to the Orson Wells radio play production. For Wayne it seemed like a great choice for a rock opera.
Today in pulp I'm looking back at a very popular (and collectable) form of art: Micro Leyendas covers!
Micro Leyendas (mini legends) are a Mexican form of fumetto, small graphic novels normally pitting the everyday hero against the weird, the occult and the unfathomable.
The art of Micro Leyendas is bold, macabre and very funny. The books often tell a cautionary tale of revenge or humiliation, much like a modern folk tale.
Today in pulp: what makes a good opening sentence for a pulp novel?
Now this is a tricky one…
The opening sentence has an almost mythical status in writing. Authors agonise for months, even years, about crafting the right one. Often it’s the last thing to be written.
Which is odd, because very few people abandon a book if they don’t like the first sentence. It’s not like the first sip of wine that tells you if the Grand Cru has been corked! Most people at least finish Chapter One.