Barry Trotter (Book 1)
The Hogwash School for Wizards was the most famous school in the wizarding world, and Barry Trotter was its most famous student. His mere presence made sure that every year twenty candidates applied for every open spot, no matter how rapacious Hogwash's tuition became. As a result, Barry and the school had come to an unspoken agreement: regardless of his grades, Barry could remain at Hogwash for as long as he wished. He had just begun his eleventh year...Freshman
Sleepy with boredom and gassy from lunch, Hart Fox sat in the hard plastic chair outside his dean's office. A kid walked in the door, pink detention slip in hand, bobbing his head a little so that the purple spikes of his mohawk didn't get bent on the transom. He slumped down next to Hart. Hart nodded--he remembered tis joker from sophomore American History, constantly arguing in favor of anarcho-syndicalism. Was his name Henry?...Sophomore
Arcing lazily through the air, the Frisbee smacked against the window. “Ooo-oo!” a chiseled and shirtless boy teased as it wobbleplummeted to the ground. “Sarah's in troub-le!”The beauty-boy was righter than he knew: Of all the windows on campus to hit, this one was the worst. It belonged to Stutts’ Professor of Clandestine Affairs, Glenbard North, who had destroyed more students than there were blades of grass on the freshly resodded Old Quad below...Coming Soon!
All you really gotta know is, I'm writing new things constantly and the more I write, the better my books get. So if you've read my earlier work--and millions of you have--we should keep in touch. This fall, at least one and maybe two new books will be available: a Dickens parody AND a comic mystery loosely based on The Beatles. Drop me an email at mikesnewbooks[at]gmail[dot]com, and I'll be sure to let you know release dates, special deals, etc.Tuesday, June 3, 2003
Yale Law School Bomb Pix!
Fellow Yalies might be interested in photos of the damage suffered by the Law School in the recent bombing, posted on a librarian blog. (Small aside: I love the Web.) All-in-all, it seems pretty minor. A carved rabbit named Pufendorf was uninjured.
The FCC and TV
In light of my recent rants, you might be interested in this article in today's New York Times. Briefly, TV people are concerned that increased corporate consolidation will stifle creativity. "It's hard to challenge the premise that `All in the Family' would never be scheduled on a network today," said Tom Werner, a partner in Carsey-Werner-Mandabach, one of the more prolific independent production companies. "I'm not even sure `Seinfeld' would get on. It would look too quirky."
But not everybody agrees. Here's the kicker to the article: ""The fact of the matter is with 100 channels in competition, it is tougher than ever to break through," said Warren Littlefield, former entertainment president for NBC and now the president of the Littlefield Company, a production partnership with Paramount Network Television. "That's why no good idea can be turned away. It's still more important than anything to a network to have that hit show."
But here's a question: how can a show become a hit if it's never aired in the first place? A hit means "the most popular among what is being offered." What's going to combat the bias every institution has towards playing it safe and doing what worked before? The raw demands of 100 cable channels, perhaps? Even then, will we see 20 different types of channel, repeated five different times? Quick, somebody tell me the difference between Discovery and TLC. Or USA and TNT....
But not everybody agrees. Here's the kicker to the article: ""The fact of the matter is with 100 channels in competition, it is tougher than ever to break through," said Warren Littlefield, former entertainment president for NBC and now the president of the Littlefield Company, a production partnership with Paramount Network Television. "That's why no good idea can be turned away. It's still more important than anything to a network to have that hit show."
But here's a question: how can a show become a hit if it's never aired in the first place? A hit means "the most popular among what is being offered." What's going to combat the bias every institution has towards playing it safe and doing what worked before? The raw demands of 100 cable channels, perhaps? Even then, will we see 20 different types of channel, repeated five different times? Quick, somebody tell me the difference between Discovery and TLC. Or USA and TNT....
Monday, June 2, 2003
Go see this movie!
Oh, you gotta go see "Finding Nemo." It's terrific. Terrifically conceived, well written, wonderfully designed. It will also make you forget today's FCC ruling for 2 hours...
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