Friday, January 25, 2008

The AI Auditions

NB: Whenever I read or hear “AI” I always think of the Spielberg movie which was based on notes made by the late great filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick. It starred Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law and could have been excellent except for the ending.

And may I just add to that…I used to (and still do) complain about endings to movies and books all the time but now that I am writing books, I realize they are wicked hard to end. It’s like, you have these characters and this world and you don’t want it to go away forever so you kind of write an open ending in case you want to do a sequel. In my successful books (and I count those as ones someone other than me has read and enjoyed), I know going into the book what the ending is - and it doesn’t change, regardless of how much changes in the middle. In my unsuccessful books (the ones I cringe at having written and shove back under the bed before the bad vibes can escape), I don’t know the ending and so I meander through different pathways trying to find the ending or at least make it not terrible but in the words of Hud from “Cloverfield,” “That’s something else, also terrible.”

So you know what’s not terrible? These Idol auditions. I had dinner with a fellow Idol fan this week and we both commiserated over the lack of interesting characters in this new season. On Tuesday night, in San Diego, there were some very good singers - and some singers whom Simon decreed to be excellent but whose talent escaped me. That must be the difference between hearing it on television and being in the same room with the person.

Right now, I am not hugely impressed by the talent pool but then, who am I? I couldn’t carry a note if it was wrapped in pretty paper and tied with a bow.

Your Hollywood connection,
Leigh