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Another new blog and facebook page!
I personally am loving all of the singing time blogs out there! I just found this brand-new blog that someone linked to on the yahoo groups page.
(If you are not a member, you should join! It's an awesome resource!!)
The blog is called "Singing Testimonies". It only has two posts up, but quite a few ideas. One I think I will use this sunday.
Also, I have started a facebook page so we can better share ideas and ask questions. I receive lots of questions and great suggestions via the comments on this blog, but I'm afraid many do not see these suggestions. I hope the facebook page will be a better source.
You can check it out here. Let me know what you think!
*Remember, it was just created...so there's nothing there yet! That's where YOU come in!*
(If you are not a member, you should join! It's an awesome resource!!)
The blog is called "Singing Testimonies". It only has two posts up, but quite a few ideas. One I think I will use this sunday.
Also, I have started a facebook page so we can better share ideas and ask questions. I receive lots of questions and great suggestions via the comments on this blog, but I'm afraid many do not see these suggestions. I hope the facebook page will be a better source.
You can check it out here. Let me know what you think!
*Remember, it was just created...so there's nothing there yet! That's where YOU come in!*
Ender has not been cast
Orson Scott Card posted today on Hatrack to stop a specific actor (who will remain nameless) from going around the internet claiming he has been cast as Ender:
I hear that there are rumors that a specific actor is being favored or has even been chosen to play Ender Wiggin.
If these rumors are true, then it means I am disastrously out of the loop, since we don't even have a script, the option is about to expire, and no one that I know of has even discussed casting. Who would have made this decision? I can't imagine.
Perhaps what these rumors represent is someone's wishful thinking. Rather the way Henry Kissinger once floated the rumor that someone wanted to amend the constitution to allow him, a naturalized citizen, to become President. Maybe by setting such a rumor loose, they hope it will become true.
But at this point, it most definitely is not true.
Lesson plan for Sunday
Here is my "lesson plan" for Sunday
I'm going to bring in a few rhythm instruments:
One at a time, I'll have a child come and play one of the following rhythms while we sing a verse of the song:
For example, on the triangle, the child will play the quarter note, followed by 3 quarter rests. (I'll help them if needed)
For Senior primary, we'll add on each time we sing. So, we'll have the triangle play the first rhythm, the agogo play the second rhythm, the guiro the third rhythm, and the maraca play the rhythm of the melody, all playing simultaneously.
For Junior's, we'll keep it simple, by having just one instrument and one rhythm at a time.
Review song: "Follow the Prophet"
I'm going to bring in a few rhythm instruments:
a triangle
wood agogo (I had to google it to find out what it was called...:)
Guiro
maraca
One at a time, I'll have a child come and play one of the following rhythms while we sing a verse of the song:
For example, on the triangle, the child will play the quarter note, followed by 3 quarter rests. (I'll help them if needed)
For Senior primary, we'll add on each time we sing. So, we'll have the triangle play the first rhythm, the agogo play the second rhythm, the guiro the third rhythm, and the maraca play the rhythm of the melody, all playing simultaneously.
For Junior's, we'll keep it simple, by having just one instrument and one rhythm at a time.
Month's Song: "Come Follow Me"
I'm going to try the "Balloon-pass" found on this blog. I'm focusing on the first verse this week, and will learn the 4th verse next week.
Idea: Pass around a blown-up balloon while singing through the song. Whoever has the balloon when the song ends, will pop it. (For kids that are afraid of the popping, have a pair of sissors to trim off the knot, so it won't "pop". )
Inside the balloon, is a paper with a question or scenario. Have the child read and answer the scenario/question. Continue with a new balloon.
I'm slightly worried about kids holding on to the balloon so they can pop it, instead of passing it on...so I'll try to think of a remedy for this....
I hope to sing through the song 5 times, so here are my 5 questions:
1) My brother hit me, because I wouldn’t let him have a turn playing a game on the computer. What should I do?
2) Mom is calling for me, and I know she’s going to ask me to do a chore, but I’m busy doing something. What should I do?
3) I’m bored in sacrament meeting. What should I do?
4) Name one way we can follow the savior.
5) We just did a fun activity for sharing time and my friends are having a hard time remembering how to be reverent. What should I do?
*A special thanks to my own children for the inspiration behind these scenarios....
TIP: We have two singing times, one for Junior, and one for Senior, so I printed out two sets of questions, and have them pre-stuffed in the balloons. I don't want to haul around a bag of blown-up balloons, so I'll blow and tie them up behind the piano, during the opening exercises.
I have a bag for Junior primary, and a bag for Senior primary.
Other song: "Here Comes the Ox Cart"
I do NOT like to spend a lot of time on visuals, unless I plan on using them over and over. However, I made an exception for this song. I am NOT an artist...which might help explain the gigantic cart pulled by the tiny ox....oh well....
The wheel turns with a little handle on the back.
It's some hardware thing I found in my husband's tool box that is attached to a screw from the other side.
The kids can turn the wheel slowly, as we sing the song.
To introduce the song, I'll ask them to listen to what kind of song the wheel is.
(Sing the song for them)
I cut the wheel into wedges that can be lifted up, to reveal a question about the song.
I'll have a child lift a flap, read the question, we'll sing the song, and then have the primary answer the question.
Questions:
1) How many times do we sing "creak"?
2) What is the wheel made of?
3) What kind of animal pulls the cart?
4) How fast does the cart go?
I put a little piece of double-sided tape under the wedges, so they would stay down when I needed them to.
You can easily put actions to this song. Have the kids roll their arms, and then bend from side to side at the waist for the "creak" part. I think this could be a fun "wiggle" song for July.
The Second Scottish Invasion of Cross Plains: Day 3
Since I had such a fantastic time, this is going to be a very short post, but fear not: it WILL be substantially expanded later with a lot more detail.
08:00 Breakfast
Bacon & Egg tacos. Glorious.
09:00 The Pavillion
Chatted with lots of folk. Bought Dreams in the Fire. Then the library.
10:00 Paul and Conan at the Movies
Superb stuff. See Ben Friberg's videos if/when he posts them.
Circa 11:30
Lunch at the Bank, had a grilled chicken sandwich. Glorious. We saw a few Howard Days folk, then back to the library. I've made it a custom to buy a Howard manuscript facsimile every year, and this was no exception: last year was "The Sword Woman," this year I went with "The Black Stranger." Fredrik Malmberg passed by, and actually came up and said it was alright for me to talk about everything I saw at yesterday's panel - this was something I discussed on Conan Movie Blog. So, the president, CEO and Co-Founder of Paradox Entertainment - or at least someone with his ear - has been reading Conan Movie Blog. And Mr Malmberg personally took the time to tell me it was alright. Awesome.
The heat was really getting to me, and since I didn't have a lot of sleep, I reluctantly missed the second two panels, even though I dearly wanted to see them. I had a lie down (siesta, to use the local parlance), and though there were two irritating flies, I certainly needed it for what was to come.
Circa 15:30 What's happening with REH?
Rusty Burke, Rob Roehm, Fredrik Malmberg, Joakim Zetterberg and Leslie Buhler talked about the next stuff from Paradox, CPI and the REH Foundation. Some of the exciting announcements:
- The next REH Foundation collection will be the Spicies, and Rob noted that some of Howard's typescripts were quite a bit raunchier than the final tales
- The Del Reys are not at an end, but on a hiatus, waiting to see how much demand for more REH there will be after the film
- Future volumes mentioned include "the Northern stuff," three boxing collections, errata for stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere, and a second edition Collected Poems of REH (YES!)
- The Kull film is moving forward, and Sean Hood's working on the script
- Christophe Gans has been developing a script for Dark Agnes.
That last announcement had me absolutely squealing with delight. While hardly an ideal choice, from a realistic standpoint, Gans may well be one of the best choices to get an Aggie film actually made. I overheard that the script was described as "Kill Bill in the Middle Ages." Stupendous - as long as they don't pull a Red Sonja with a rape origin or some such. Plus he's French, so him making a film about a French character has a nice synchronicity with the English MJB making a film about the English Solomon Kane.
Circa 16:30 Signing
Got Mark & Amy to sign Dreams in the Fire, and ran to the hotel to get changed.
Circa 17:00 Caddo Peak Ranch
Got to Caddo Peak Ranch. I got acquainted with another newbie (present at the poetry throwdown last night) called Aurelia. She captured the hearts and minds of just about every male present with her earnestness, erudition, intelligence and simple charm. Plus she was gorgeous, that helped. With a capital G. I also talked with many other folks.
Ascending the Peak
I climbed Caddo Peak. It was arduous: my calves were shorting out every dozen or so steps, so I had to rest to let them reenergize. The heat didn't help at all. But I succeeded. I wasn't alone, of course: Keith, Aurelia, Matthew, Don, Kevin, Miguel and more conquered the Callahan County Mountain. I momentarily lost my hat, but a mighty soul saved it from the ages and we reunited. I found a rock.
The Barbeque
I talked with Don, Kevin, Aurelia, Todd, Frank and Gary about all manner of things: Scotland, independence et al. I had barbecue. You know what it was, and it had a capital G too.
The Pavillion
I talked with many people, well into the wee hours. Said goodbyes. Have fallen hopelessly in love with Aurelia. Now I really have to get some sleep.
08:00 Breakfast
Bacon & Egg tacos. Glorious.
09:00 The Pavillion
Chatted with lots of folk. Bought Dreams in the Fire. Then the library.
10:00 Paul and Conan at the Movies
Superb stuff. See Ben Friberg's videos if/when he posts them.
Circa 11:30
Lunch at the Bank, had a grilled chicken sandwich. Glorious. We saw a few Howard Days folk, then back to the library. I've made it a custom to buy a Howard manuscript facsimile every year, and this was no exception: last year was "The Sword Woman," this year I went with "The Black Stranger." Fredrik Malmberg passed by, and actually came up and said it was alright for me to talk about everything I saw at yesterday's panel - this was something I discussed on Conan Movie Blog. So, the president, CEO and Co-Founder of Paradox Entertainment - or at least someone with his ear - has been reading Conan Movie Blog. And Mr Malmberg personally took the time to tell me it was alright. Awesome.
The heat was really getting to me, and since I didn't have a lot of sleep, I reluctantly missed the second two panels, even though I dearly wanted to see them. I had a lie down (siesta, to use the local parlance), and though there were two irritating flies, I certainly needed it for what was to come.
Circa 15:30 What's happening with REH?
Rusty Burke, Rob Roehm, Fredrik Malmberg, Joakim Zetterberg and Leslie Buhler talked about the next stuff from Paradox, CPI and the REH Foundation. Some of the exciting announcements:
- The next REH Foundation collection will be the Spicies, and Rob noted that some of Howard's typescripts were quite a bit raunchier than the final tales
- The Del Reys are not at an end, but on a hiatus, waiting to see how much demand for more REH there will be after the film
- Future volumes mentioned include "the Northern stuff," three boxing collections, errata for stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere, and a second edition Collected Poems of REH (YES!)
- The Kull film is moving forward, and Sean Hood's working on the script
- Christophe Gans has been developing a script for Dark Agnes.
That last announcement had me absolutely squealing with delight. While hardly an ideal choice, from a realistic standpoint, Gans may well be one of the best choices to get an Aggie film actually made. I overheard that the script was described as "Kill Bill in the Middle Ages." Stupendous - as long as they don't pull a Red Sonja with a rape origin or some such. Plus he's French, so him making a film about a French character has a nice synchronicity with the English MJB making a film about the English Solomon Kane.
Circa 16:30 Signing
Got Mark & Amy to sign Dreams in the Fire, and ran to the hotel to get changed.
Circa 17:00 Caddo Peak Ranch
Got to Caddo Peak Ranch. I got acquainted with another newbie (present at the poetry throwdown last night) called Aurelia. She captured the hearts and minds of just about every male present with her earnestness, erudition, intelligence and simple charm. Plus she was gorgeous, that helped. With a capital G. I also talked with many other folks.
Ascending the Peak
I climbed Caddo Peak. It was arduous: my calves were shorting out every dozen or so steps, so I had to rest to let them reenergize. The heat didn't help at all. But I succeeded. I wasn't alone, of course: Keith, Aurelia, Matthew, Don, Kevin, Miguel and more conquered the Callahan County Mountain. I momentarily lost my hat, but a mighty soul saved it from the ages and we reunited. I found a rock.
The Barbeque
I talked with Don, Kevin, Aurelia, Todd, Frank and Gary about all manner of things: Scotland, independence et al. I had barbecue. You know what it was, and it had a capital G too.
The Pavillion
I talked with many people, well into the wee hours. Said goodbyes. Have fallen hopelessly in love with Aurelia. Now I really have to get some sleep.
WB Extends Option, Card Working On Brand New Script
Orson Scott Card posted on Hatrack about the latest on the Ender's Game Movie:
The option with Warner Bros. was due to expire on 7 December. There was no filmable script - though in fairness to the writers so far, they may well have been following faithfully all that they were actually asked to do - EG is simply a very hard story to put in script form.
At the last minute, a committed Warner exec met with me and we worked out some key decisions. Warner is still strongly committed to making Ender's Game into a great movie, and we agreed to another year or so of option, starting with a new script written by me (a page-one rewrite not based on any previous script, including mine). Guess how I'll be spending my Christmas vacation.
This is very promising, I think. As far as I know, all other elements of the team remain together. I will be working closely with Chartoff Productions (whom I've been working with on this for ten years now) and with the Warner executive to get this script right - emotional, truthful, the kind of film that even people who think they hate sci-fi and war films will like.
It will be faithful to the story, within the limitations of a two-hour form factor. Stuff has to be left out. But what's THERE will be true to the story in the books, even if it isn't word-for-word or point-for-point the same.
The Second Scottish Invasion of Cross Plains: Day 3.25, the Night at the Pavillion
This is an interim post where I discuss the night at the Pavillion. A lot of stuff happened there, and due to the intimacy and liquor involved, a lot of it was deeply private and personal: however, there are some things said that night that I want to share, and hopefully the other participants won't mind me sharing.
Just after I finished the last post, I tried to sleep. I couldn't. Wired to the ceiling, so much energy left, I felt like I was wasting time. So I got back up and returned to the Pavillion, hoping that there were still some night owls present. Luckily, there were: Dennis McHaney, Russell Andrew, Todd Woods, Tom Foster, Ben Friberg, Chris Gruber, Aurelia Bryan, Frank Coffman, Jim Barron, and Ed Chaczyk were still up and enjoying each other's company. I arrived just as Ed and Jim were leaving for the night, but I got a chance to say my goodbyes.
For much of the evening, everyone talked. Dennis talked to me about film and the work involved with fanzines, Ben & Todd talked history with me, I talked to Frank about poetry, country songs and rugby anthems, I chatted with Chris and Tom about my Howard and Conan, and Aurelia about... just about everything, really.
Talking with Dennis was incredibly rewarding. I was still thinking of Dennis as this "colossus, this great legendary thing" who was so instrumental in paving the modern golden age of Howard Studies, not to mention being somewhat intimidating when encountered in print or online. Yet he was considerate, tolerant, and just damned great company. He recommended I find a horror film with Sean Bean called Far North, and coming from a man who knows so much about cinema, I'll be sure to do so.
Todd is a great chap, too. He and I talked at the barbecue about the history of Scotland, the current political status of the UK and the possibility of Scottish Independence, and the historical verisimilitude of Braveheart (cough), and during The Wee Hours we picked up on our conversation. Todd reminds me a lot of one of those great, gregarious giants like Little John or any Brian Blessed role. Great fun.
Tom was fantastic: also very learned and knowledgeable, and he seemed particularly interested in how I first got into Howard. I retold the story, and we discussed the merits of "The Tower of the Elephant." Ben and I discussed history and historical films, Zemeckis' Beowulf (hint: we slammed it) and, again, Braveheart. Chris was very thoughtful, as he seemed deeply interested in furthering intelligent discussion, as opposed to fun drunken ramblings. Which is fine, of course, but I appreciated his efforts too, and enjoyed listening to everyone recounting their first experiences with Howard, comparing the boxing stories to the rest of his ouevre, and his poetry. Someone I really need to talk to more.
The only person I didn't chat to was Russell Andrew: I was bothered that I didn't make or find the time to talk with him, but that's what next years are for. Soon Frank regaled us with rugby songs and Howard's favourite Irish tune, we were all giggling and having difficulty with our motor neurons (some through being "tired and emotional," some being non-euphemistically tired and emotional) and we started to drift apart into small groups to different parts of the place. At which point, I found myself with Aurelia.
Let me talk about Aurelia: she is absolutely wonderful. I talked with her all through the night about Howard, poetry, life, everything in general. I even got a few opportunities to talk to her alone: we sat on the porch of the Howard House and discussed America, the sights of the land, our lives and beliefs. We had a pretty massive argument (involving gender roles, politics and whatnot) at around 05:30, and all through it I felt absolutely dreadful. Yet because I truly believe Aurelia understood where I was coming from, we managed to reconcile - almost entirely consisting of me apologizing and grovelling! - and continued talking about Howard, poetry, life, everything in general, letting her get a rest before she drove off to the airport. At around 07:30, I finally, and most reluctantly, left to get ready for breakfast, having not slept a wink that whole night, my throat hoarse from talking.
My time with Aurelia is a time which I consider one of the most important - of not only Howard Days, but of my life. I learned so much talking, arguing and laughing with her. I think - hope - I came out of this a better, wiser, more mature person than I was yesterday. For this, I thank Aurelia from the bottom of my heart for affecting me so much. She is one of the most charming, insightful, sharp, determined, commanding, and all-round brilliant people I've ever met, and I dearly hope to keep in touch with her, and see her return for the next Howard Days.
Just after I finished the last post, I tried to sleep. I couldn't. Wired to the ceiling, so much energy left, I felt like I was wasting time. So I got back up and returned to the Pavillion, hoping that there were still some night owls present. Luckily, there were: Dennis McHaney, Russell Andrew, Todd Woods, Tom Foster, Ben Friberg, Chris Gruber, Aurelia Bryan, Frank Coffman, Jim Barron, and Ed Chaczyk were still up and enjoying each other's company. I arrived just as Ed and Jim were leaving for the night, but I got a chance to say my goodbyes.
For much of the evening, everyone talked. Dennis talked to me about film and the work involved with fanzines, Ben & Todd talked history with me, I talked to Frank about poetry, country songs and rugby anthems, I chatted with Chris and Tom about my Howard and Conan, and Aurelia about... just about everything, really.
Talking with Dennis was incredibly rewarding. I was still thinking of Dennis as this "colossus, this great legendary thing" who was so instrumental in paving the modern golden age of Howard Studies, not to mention being somewhat intimidating when encountered in print or online. Yet he was considerate, tolerant, and just damned great company. He recommended I find a horror film with Sean Bean called Far North, and coming from a man who knows so much about cinema, I'll be sure to do so.
Todd is a great chap, too. He and I talked at the barbecue about the history of Scotland, the current political status of the UK and the possibility of Scottish Independence, and the historical verisimilitude of Braveheart (cough), and during The Wee Hours we picked up on our conversation. Todd reminds me a lot of one of those great, gregarious giants like Little John or any Brian Blessed role. Great fun.
Tom was fantastic: also very learned and knowledgeable, and he seemed particularly interested in how I first got into Howard. I retold the story, and we discussed the merits of "The Tower of the Elephant." Ben and I discussed history and historical films, Zemeckis' Beowulf (hint: we slammed it) and, again, Braveheart. Chris was very thoughtful, as he seemed deeply interested in furthering intelligent discussion, as opposed to fun drunken ramblings. Which is fine, of course, but I appreciated his efforts too, and enjoyed listening to everyone recounting their first experiences with Howard, comparing the boxing stories to the rest of his ouevre, and his poetry. Someone I really need to talk to more.
The only person I didn't chat to was Russell Andrew: I was bothered that I didn't make or find the time to talk with him, but that's what next years are for. Soon Frank regaled us with rugby songs and Howard's favourite Irish tune, we were all giggling and having difficulty with our motor neurons (some through being "tired and emotional," some being non-euphemistically tired and emotional) and we started to drift apart into small groups to different parts of the place. At which point, I found myself with Aurelia.
Let me talk about Aurelia: she is absolutely wonderful. I talked with her all through the night about Howard, poetry, life, everything in general. I even got a few opportunities to talk to her alone: we sat on the porch of the Howard House and discussed America, the sights of the land, our lives and beliefs. We had a pretty massive argument (involving gender roles, politics and whatnot) at around 05:30, and all through it I felt absolutely dreadful. Yet because I truly believe Aurelia understood where I was coming from, we managed to reconcile - almost entirely consisting of me apologizing and grovelling! - and continued talking about Howard, poetry, life, everything in general, letting her get a rest before she drove off to the airport. At around 07:30, I finally, and most reluctantly, left to get ready for breakfast, having not slept a wink that whole night, my throat hoarse from talking.
My time with Aurelia is a time which I consider one of the most important - of not only Howard Days, but of my life. I learned so much talking, arguing and laughing with her. I think - hope - I came out of this a better, wiser, more mature person than I was yesterday. For this, I thank Aurelia from the bottom of my heart for affecting me so much. She is one of the most charming, insightful, sharp, determined, commanding, and all-round brilliant people I've ever met, and I dearly hope to keep in touch with her, and see her return for the next Howard Days.
No news lately
Unfortunately, there hasn't been any news on the Ender's Game movie lately. Work is probably continuing on the script, and no word on whether or not Warner Bros likes this latest draft.
Wolfgang Petersen's latest film, Poseidon, will be released on May 12th, so hopefully Wolfgang will be asked about E.G. in an interview some time soon.
Wolfgang Petersen's latest film, Poseidon, will be released on May 12th, so hopefully Wolfgang will be asked about E.G. in an interview some time soon.
The Second Scottish Invasion of Cross Plains: Day 4
The festivities are over, but the invasion is not: one final full day of the invading Scots remained.
10:00 Late to Breakfast
Having gone to bed at around 08:00, I didn't realistically see me attending breakfast at Jean's. That said, I got up eventually, so that I could see everyone I could for the last time this year. First, I said my goodbyes to Rusty and Shelly. I also had a long discussion with Barbara Barrett, before accompanying Miguel Martins & Fabrice Tortey back to the 36 West. There I found Dennis McHaney, Tom Foster, and Todd Woods, and I parted with all of them too. Finally, I found Matthew, and exchanged well wishes and goodbyes while I retired to the room to catch some more rest.
14:00 Dinner with Paul Sammon
Last year, the marvellous Paul Sammon spontaneously offered to take me and the girls out for dinner, which we happily reciprocated. It all started last year, when my aunt got to speaking with Paul on the bus trip around Cross Plains. Evidently she made such an impression on Paul that he got better acquainted with the rest of us. And the rest, as they say...
We went to Jeans, and discussed a great many things. Paul had some fantastic stories from the world of cinema to share, and imparted some valuable and greatly appreciated advice about getting involved in the world of business. The girls provided their own stories, too, so it wasn't just Paul giving an informal panel (which wouldn't have been a bad thing by any means!) and we I talked about the likes of Sword-and-Sorcery adaptations, the Encyclopaedia Hyboriana, Max von Sydow sticking up for Dune, and whatnot.
In a truly awesome twist, not only did Paul Sammon give us an autographed copy of Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner (one of the best behind-the-scenes books I've read), but after I lamented not bringing my copy of Conan the Phenomenon for him to sign, Paul went to his car, picked out his last copy of the book, and gave it to me - and autographed. I was bowled over by his generosity, and giddy with glee. Heh, and I say I don't get star-struck...
Circa 17:00 Preparing to Depart
The Scottish Invasion would end with the invading army camping around the area of the 36 West tavern, a mere mangonel's throw from the Howard House. So, we got our suitcases packed, tried to negotiate all the books I bought (and was given!) and get some rest before the Great Migration back to the homeland. It was this time I wrote up the blog, and by the time you hear from me next, I'll be back where my heart is: glaikit, dreich, droukit Scotland.
10:00 Late to Breakfast
Having gone to bed at around 08:00, I didn't realistically see me attending breakfast at Jean's. That said, I got up eventually, so that I could see everyone I could for the last time this year. First, I said my goodbyes to Rusty and Shelly. I also had a long discussion with Barbara Barrett, before accompanying Miguel Martins & Fabrice Tortey back to the 36 West. There I found Dennis McHaney, Tom Foster, and Todd Woods, and I parted with all of them too. Finally, I found Matthew, and exchanged well wishes and goodbyes while I retired to the room to catch some more rest.
14:00 Dinner with Paul Sammon
Last year, the marvellous Paul Sammon spontaneously offered to take me and the girls out for dinner, which we happily reciprocated. It all started last year, when my aunt got to speaking with Paul on the bus trip around Cross Plains. Evidently she made such an impression on Paul that he got better acquainted with the rest of us. And the rest, as they say...
We went to Jeans, and discussed a great many things. Paul had some fantastic stories from the world of cinema to share, and imparted some valuable and greatly appreciated advice about getting involved in the world of business. The girls provided their own stories, too, so it wasn't just Paul giving an informal panel (which wouldn't have been a bad thing by any means!) and we I talked about the likes of Sword-and-Sorcery adaptations, the Encyclopaedia Hyboriana, Max von Sydow sticking up for Dune, and whatnot.
In a truly awesome twist, not only did Paul Sammon give us an autographed copy of Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner (one of the best behind-the-scenes books I've read), but after I lamented not bringing my copy of Conan the Phenomenon for him to sign, Paul went to his car, picked out his last copy of the book, and gave it to me - and autographed. I was bowled over by his generosity, and giddy with glee. Heh, and I say I don't get star-struck...
Circa 17:00 Preparing to Depart
The Scottish Invasion would end with the invading army camping around the area of the 36 West tavern, a mere mangonel's throw from the Howard House. So, we got our suitcases packed, tried to negotiate all the books I bought (and was given!) and get some rest before the Great Migration back to the homeland. It was this time I wrote up the blog, and by the time you hear from me next, I'll be back where my heart is: glaikit, dreich, droukit Scotland.
The Second Scottish Invasion of Cross Plains: Still to Come
I still have a few things to do regarding the Second Scottish Invasion, so keep an eye out for the following over the next week or so:
- Prelude to Invasion: gaze in astonishment at a more thorough detailing of our two-week occupation of Mesa, Arizona prior to storming the gates of Texas!
- Photographic evidence: marvel in awe at the victories of Al and the Weird Sisters at various battlefields and historical places of interest!
- Expanded field reports: shiver in dread at newly detailed accounts of what really happened at Cross Plains, chock full of staunch alliances, shocking betrayals, and thrilling wars!
- Glorious Return: gasp in surprise as I retell the strenuous and frightful journey home to the bleak moors of Scotland, braving blazing sun, driving rain, and subpar tea!
- Spoils of war: squeal in delight at the sight of rare books, prized gifts, ferocious dinosaurs, fridge magnets, marvellous rocks and other tributes from the denizens of Cross Plains, truly a munificent bounty!
In the meantime, check out Conan Movie Blog, where I've been talking about the recent Conan TV spots and the new Red Band Trailer.
- Prelude to Invasion: gaze in astonishment at a more thorough detailing of our two-week occupation of Mesa, Arizona prior to storming the gates of Texas!
- Photographic evidence: marvel in awe at the victories of Al and the Weird Sisters at various battlefields and historical places of interest!
- Expanded field reports: shiver in dread at newly detailed accounts of what really happened at Cross Plains, chock full of staunch alliances, shocking betrayals, and thrilling wars!
- Glorious Return: gasp in surprise as I retell the strenuous and frightful journey home to the bleak moors of Scotland, braving blazing sun, driving rain, and subpar tea!
- Spoils of war: squeal in delight at the sight of rare books, prized gifts, ferocious dinosaurs, fridge magnets, marvellous rocks and other tributes from the denizens of Cross Plains, truly a munificent bounty!
In the meantime, check out Conan Movie Blog, where I've been talking about the recent Conan TV spots and the new Red Band Trailer.
Start to really writing now!
Look at this condition, i start to make a new plan for my writing activity to make this activity more advantageous and useful too for my pocket.
Actually, i confuse to start whence i can start. Except i dont have any writing objects, i dont have also the right writing theory. Everytime i made of my writing, i just write on my head directly.
Next Up for Petersen?
Wolfgang Petersen told Scifi.com that the Ender's Game movie could be his next project:
Hopefully Petersen likes Orson Scott Card's latest version of the script and they can finally get the ball rolling!
We're getting the script in a few weeks, and if everything goes fine and that script goes in the right direction, it could indeed be my next one," Petersen said in an interview while promoting his upcoming upside-down cruise ship movie.
Petersen added that he anticipated having to audition at least 1,000 young actors to find the right person to play Card's boy genius, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, who is in training to defend Earth against an alien invasion in the late 21st century. But Petersen thinks Ender's Game could be as successful as the Harry Potter franchise. "I think Ender's was a little bit of an inspiration for Harry Potter," he said. "It could also be a great 3-D version of Ender's, with all that fighting in the battle stations."
Hopefully Petersen likes Orson Scott Card's latest version of the script and they can finally get the ball rolling!
Pre-Production to Start in September?
According to the April 27, 2006 print edition of Daily Variety, Wolfgang Petersen is eager to get started on pre-production of his next film. The problem is that he's not sure what film that will be, but Ender's Game is one of his options:
Petersen's name has been linked to sci-fi epic "Ender's Game," but the helmer says he's only sure that whatever he does, he'll do it soon. "I had such a great time on 'Poseidon,' I told the people in my office I'm going to do promotion on 'Poseidon,' move into my new house and start pre-production in September. On what? I don't know. We have to look at scripts. We'll do that over the summer."
Dude and Zombies
Dude and ZombiesShoot zombies, buy weapons, develop skills, assemble your broken car and get out of here! |
How hard is TOEFL test?
Answering question is more easy than listening section. My ears cant heard anything except unclear chit-chat, i don't take any cautious for listening. Because i think for every test is just providing a sheet for answering questions on paper.
There are 4 aspect from TOEFL that i knew from guide book that TOEFL is had four aspects like reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
And as long as i joined TOEFL test, i think i must care about listening and speaking. Because both is hard from TOEFL test.
Skittles game
on our new facebook page, Annie left this idea just moments after I started up the page. I can tell the facebook page is going to be a great resource for ideas and information! Check it out!
"We take a bag of Skittles and I draw names and the child comes to the front of the room. They close their eyes and put a skittle in their mouth and try to guess the color. If they get it right then the get to pick a song, but if it's wrong then it's my choice. It's a great way to review program songs, the kids love it, and it's super easy...hardly any planning involved. I always give each child 3 or 4 skittles after singing time so there's no fighting."
Some variations I thought of for reviewing ONE song:
Skittles game:
(As always, be sensitive to food allergies.
Fruity candy is usually safe, but always get approval from the primary presidency first!)
"We take a bag of Skittles and I draw names and the child comes to the front of the room. They close their eyes and put a skittle in their mouth and try to guess the color. If they get it right then the get to pick a song, but if it's wrong then it's my choice. It's a great way to review program songs, the kids love it, and it's super easy...hardly any planning involved. I always give each child 3 or 4 skittles after singing time so there's no fighting."
Some variations I thought of for reviewing ONE song:
- You could use this like I use the magic potion game. Write out the words to a song on a dry-erase board using marker colors to match the colors of skittles you have. If they guess the correct color, you erase that color of a word. If they guess it wrong, you don't erase any words. You can switch this, depending on the tendency of your primary, i.e. they prefer to get them wrong so they don't have to erase any words. :)
- The color of the skittle represents a certain phrase of a song. If they guess it right, they sing just that phrase. If they guess it wrong, you sing the entire song.
- The colors represent different ways to sing the song, if guessed correctly. If guessed wrong, you just sing it normal.
- Do you have any ideas? suggestions?
Love this idea, Annie! Thanks so much!
New Year, New What?
Forgetting about the future and the past, because they just look at time and what happening now. Its easy to do this, seeing fireworks on new year eve, eating, drinking, and make having fun. But its hard to do this too, you make a plan along your life without seeing new year, but far-far away from your life now.
Chat with stranger is exciting
Sometime, i got friendly friend, and sometime i got weird people. They usually chat with someone that they expected with asking asl. If they like what do you come from or how old are you. They will continue chatting with you.
With Omegle chat, i've got some nice friends. This is good for practicing my english skill. I can send them e-mail or some interest story and exactly sharing what i like.
R-Rated Ender's Game?
Is it possible that Wolfgang Petersen is planning for an r-rated Ender's Game movie? It looks that way, according to MTV.com:
Now that he's done treading water with "Poseidon," director Wolfgang Petersen is turning his attention to "Ender's Game," a passion project he envisions as an R-rated version of one of Hollywood's most successful franchises. "I think 'Harry Potter' was inspired by 'Ender's Game,' " Petersen insisted, citing the 1985 sci-fi novel he's adapting.
Petersen cites "Potter" and the ultraviolent Japanese cult flick "Battle Royale" to give an idea of the tone he's leaning toward. "It's one of the projects at the top of my list of what I want to do next. I've been involved with it for quite a while," Petersen said, crossing his fingers. "We're getting another script for it in a few weeks, and then we'll see what we can do with that." ...
Quick review idea
HELLO! (...hello... hello... hello...) Anybody there? (...there...there...there...)
Once again...I find myself appologizing for the lack of posts. With vacations, and school starting, I've been trying to find the "balance" between all things. Isn't that what I said last time too? Has anyone ever figured out "the balance"? We're getting closer, and I've neglected you long enough...
So, the next few posts will be about review ideas. My program is not until Halloween, but I know some of yours' are coming up in the next few weeks, if you haven't had it already.
I did this idea with my kids last week (this week was Stake Conference). I'm trying to isolate some of the songs that are starting to be "forgotten" and need some review of the words.
We took the song "I know that My savior loves Me," to work on.
Juniors:
I placed the visuals randomly around the room, on the wall, on chairs, the piano, etc. All places where the children could see them. I told them the visuals to our song were scattered around the room, and I needed help getting them back in order. I told them to look at the pictures while I sang the song, and see if they could find the right pictures to the words. After singing it once, we went through the song, phrase by phrase, as they brought up the correct pictures. We reviewed each one as many times as needed for them to get it. By the end, they had it down again.
Seniors:
Hand out the visuals to the kids, randomly. Then, ask them to come and put themselves in the right order, before you and the primary finish singing the song. Challenge them to get faster and faster each time.
My chatting with atheist on Omegle
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Official messages from Omegle will not be sent with the label 'Stranger:'. Strangers claiming to represent Omegle are lying.
Stranger: Are you religious?
You: yeah
You: i am religious
Stranger: What religion do you practice?
You: hmm, many religion
Stranger: Name a few.
You: why u asking about this?
Stranger: I'm interested.
You: interested for what? for believing or researching?
Stranger: I'm interested in your personal beliefs.
Stranger: I take pleasure in you expressing yourself.
You: hm, i dont know u?what your name?
Stranger: Irrelevant.
You: what the religion did you believe
Stranger: I'm not religious. You never answered my question.
You: ok, my religion is admitting one god
You: pray 5 times
You: fasting in one month
You: go to pilgrimage
You: paying taxes
You: and do good thing the other
Stranger: All the symptoms of Islam. That's funny, paying taxes is a part of your religion? Paying taxes to whom?
You: not really paying taxes, its called "zakat" i make it to give u definition like that. paying to the poors
You: and i dont like capitalize
Stranger: That's fine.
Stranger: How long have you been a muslim?
You: from i can breathe... , btw, i interested to learn other religion
Stranger: So you had no choice?
You: i took a choice, that islam.
Stranger: When did you make that choice?
You: when i know the best thing and suitable for me
Stranger: When was that?
You: i got "hidayah" , you know hidayah?
Stranger: I don't.
You: that is god gift for believe him ,, some people dont got it
You: wait a moment, i must pee
You: i am back
Stranger: Your parents led you into Islam, am I correct?
Stranger: Or, at the very least, introduced it to you?
You: yes, but i think it about that
Stranger: What do you think about?
You: about my parent introduction. they just say islam is blablabla,,, without the more explain.
You: why islam must pray?
You: must fasting>
You: must go pilgrimage?
You: can you answer?'
Stranger: Me? I know very little about Islam. Can you answer those questions for me?
You: alright.. but dont take my opinion. you may learn from Ulama (islam scholarship) for the better answer.
You: ulama=moslem scholarship
Stranger: Well only you know why you do certain things.
You: alright..
Stranger: So why do you pray?
You: coz i need my god and thanks for everything he give to me. so i ask you back, why you obey your parent?
Stranger: I obey my parents only when I agree with their wishes.
You: they made you and give their energy for you to growing up from baby...
Stranger: Right.
You: so, you may be get the point.
Stranger: Not exactly.
You: explain me more?
Stranger: Yes, please.
You: what the next question..
Stranger: Where do you live?
You: for your info, i listening metal now...
You: i live in god land and his pit sky.
Stranger: You live in Montana?
You: no, i am Indonesian, buddy,,, my name is Qori..
Stranger: When do you plan on making your pilgrimage to Mecca?
You: someday if i proper to do that.,.. there are i must to do in this world.
Stranger: What must you do?
You: that is religious journey, usually for someone that reached 40 old.
Stranger: Are these duties something that you have decided or something your God has decided for you?
You: i think that is god decided for moslem, and behind it, there are "hikmah" that moslem got if they really know about their god commands
You: do you know hikmah?
Stranger: I don't.
You: hikmah= wise
You: what your name?
Stranger: Isaac.
You: isaaac in arabic is ishak.
You: are you isaac newton :D, hehe just kidding
Stranger: I get that one a lot.
You: you know, there many people misundertanding about their religion.
You: believe me, dont equate religion and believer.
Stranger: I don't know what you mean by that.
You: i talk about religion. why islamic was called terrorist? why other religion called blablabla... there many many misunderstanding about that religion itself.
Stranger: I believe people think of Islam as a dangerous or violent religion because there are notable acts of terror committed by muslims in the name of Islam.
You: yes, you got that point. i hate moslem like that.
You: jihad is way to defend, not attack.
Stranger: I believe the "terrorists" believe they are defending Islam.
You: but their way is wrong,,,
Stranger: How do you know?
You: because i understanding my religion without hate the others
You: i ask you, why islam must arab or arabic?
Stranger: I don't understand the question, can you rephrase it?
You: sorry for my broken grammar. i am beginner in english
Stranger: No worries.
You: islam using arabic languange for their ritual
You: i hear asking alexandria - Final episode now,
Stranger: Well didn't the ideas of Islam originate among Arabs and in areas dominated by people who spoke Arabic?
You: yeah, you are rigth. Natively, indonesian religion is praying idol, nature , etc..
You: but, when islam came to indonesia, its change their ritual untill now
You: sorry, Indonesian religion was praying idol, nature, etc..
You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLQBebfEXpc
Stranger: I'm not familiar with the religions of the original peoples of Indonesia but if you encourage a religion that only allows for one God then there can only be one truth, one point of view, one good, and one correct way to live.
Stranger: Do you understand where I'm going with this?
You: i respected other religion. not blame it , not force to belive me religion
Stranger: Well original monotheists did not and several still don't.
You: i think, that is depending on person. not teachings. now, explain me about your religion or belief? i am curious
Stranger: I believe in no God or gods or any objective reason for existence.
You: in other name you are atheist. i see...
You: i am looking for god... where is he? actually you cant find him, but he find you. that is my principle.
You: do you enjoyed your believe?
Stranger: Does your belief in God comfort you?
You: our question is same.
You: hehe.. thats funny
Stranger: I'm content with my beliefs, yes.
Stranger: Yourself?
You: i am too, i have one interesting story about an atheist and a believer, do you want to know it?
Stranger: Sure.
You: now, i am hear bring me the horizon-pray for plague'song
You: ok, check it out it.
You: one day, there are two person in a market. one is atheist , one is believer.
You: they walk aroun the market for looking around.
You: during they walk , there many sellers offering their goods like clothes and etcetera.
You: they disobeying the sellers untill they out from the market.
You: bfore they split, the atheist asking the believer. why you belive your religion.
You: and then, believer answer: "dont you see, there are many sellers was offering us to buy their goods"
You: and we dont buy anything, so i ask you. "what will you do if you buy someting? exactly, you research and check it before you buy it."
You: and the atheist answered. exactly i must know about the quality that good from the sellers."
You: and then, believer response "so i am, i believe my religion after i research and check it before i choose it., i think you know you know where the best that you can choose.
You: end,..,,
Stranger: Well I guess I'm saving my money then.
You: what do you think?
You: ok,
Stranger: So I can buy a hat.
You: you exactly know about the goodest hat
You: and before you get it, you choose the best.
Stranger: I understand.
You: so, its called "hikmah"
You: islam command to people to believe or disbelieve.
You: now, i am listening like g6 song...
Stranger: What's that?
You: techno song,,
You: trance song....
You: could we continue our conversation?
Stranger: This is what I'm listening to.
Stranger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL0tYowbIxE
Stranger: Sure.
You: yeah, such like that
You: like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvgJEznqtms
You: do you have e-mail?
You: if you can ask me question, you may ask me..
You: on mail.
Stranger: Oh, no thank you.
Stranger: I think what is lovely about a website like this is that we can enjoy a conversation and never speak again.
You: alright.. its impresfull.
You: about 2 hour i chat with u,,, i doing my homework
You: what do you think about hell and heaven?
You: hello, are you there?
Stranger: i don'I don't believe in heaven or hell.
You: yes, atheis dont need believe that crap. so, how do you measure about the good or bad thing?
You: are you busy?
Your conversational partner has disconnected.
Will Poseidon Impact Ender's Game?
Wolfgang Petersen's Poseidon opened last weekend to a lower than expected .2 Million dollar opening in the US and less-than-stellar reviews. The film, which costs more than 0 million dollars to make, is currently 29% Rotten at RottenTomatoes, which critics blasting the cardboard characters, cheesy dialogue, and un-inspired directing by Petersen.
Warner Bros is the studio behind both films, along with Petersen's last effort, Troy, which made up for it's disappointing US box office results by doing well overseas. Studios frequently reward directors of their successful films by allowing them to make riskier movies. But will that happen with the Ender's Game movie?
Will the failure of a popcorn flick like Poseidon finally send a message to Hollywood that movie goers want more than mindless action and special effects? Or will Ender's Game seem to risky for Warner Bros after costly flop like Poseidon?
Warner Bros is the studio behind both films, along with Petersen's last effort, Troy, which made up for it's disappointing US box office results by doing well overseas. Studios frequently reward directors of their successful films by allowing them to make riskier movies. But will that happen with the Ender's Game movie?
Will the failure of a popcorn flick like Poseidon finally send a message to Hollywood that movie goers want more than mindless action and special effects? Or will Ender's Game seem to risky for Warner Bros after costly flop like Poseidon?
LiveMocha.com, Social network site for languange learners
In this time, i would like to introduce to you for one gratest site for learning some languanges. If you using popular social network like facebook, you exactly just read your friends status and will get bored for sometimes.Live Mocha is same social network like facebook and etc, but its have many differents. In Live Mocha, you will meet new friend who want to learn your languange. And so you are, you can learn languange from your friend with their native languange. Live-Mocha also providing some exercises for you with the languange that you choose before. You can be as teacher from your friend and also as student too. Think also that we can share our languange skill to help others.
I think, Live Mocha will increase their users with their unique feature. So, if you want to study languange with social network. You may try LiveMocha at http://www.livemocha.com/
This is my Live Mocha Account :)
Card Finishes Script and Discusses Release Date
Orson Scott Card posted on Hatrack in response to an article about the Ender's Game movie that mentioned the release date being 2008:
Haven't read the article, but if it sets a definite date, then it didn't come from me. There's a possibility of 2008. Depends on how they feel about the script I just finished.
Legend of Kalevala
Legend of KalevalaWelcome to the mysterious world of Kalevala. You awaken in a lush forest with no recollection of how you arrived. Take control of your alien body as you navigate the treacherous realm of Kalevala. Discover the secrets behind this new world as you unlock more of the story while exploring and fighting to survive. LoK is my first major game project in a rather long time. It has been a pure joy working on this game and I hope you enjoy it. Support me by telling your friends about this game, please! |
An Appeal for Atrocious Adaptations
Some of the regulars at Grognardia seem to disagree with me in regards to the Conan film. Some seem to think I'm being unreasonable in wanting a film based on some of the best Sword-and-Sorcery stories ever written to adapt said stories, in a way that just about every other literary adaptation has been adapted. Some seem to completely fail to understand the difference between this and the 1982 film's divergences from the source material, and the differences from other film. One chap even brings up A Clockwork Orange, Jaws, and Planet of the Apes as examples of unfaithful adaptations. As I said in the comments:
Man, if only we got Conan films as unfaithful as those adaptations.
I've been through this before, but I'm still absolutely perplexed at the idea that anyone could consider what Stone & Milius did with Conan to be remotely comparable to those other films. Then I thought: perhaps you, yes you, could help?
What I'm asking is for you to provide an example of an adaptation of a character which is as alien to the source material as Conan the Barbarian is. In order to qualify, I'm going to suggest a few things:
Sound good? It's actually bothering me that I can't think of that many adaptations. That said, I won't exclude suitably divergent adaptations that don't adhere to the above: I just want to know if Conan's in good company.
Right now, I can think of only one: Alex Proyas' I, Robot. The de facto main character of the stories, Dr. Susan Calvin, is present in the film, albeit pushed into second banana for Will Smith, and aside from occupation, belief in the innate decency of robots, and antipathy to humans, she isn't very similar to the original character. For one thing, Asimov's Calvin wasn't a supermodel before she was a doctor. The story is largely an invention, originally a science fiction film called Hardwired that had nothing to do with Asimov, before it was retroactively dolled up after the author's death. There are a few lifts from the stories, such as a robot hiding among its duplicates a la "Little Lost Robot," the reinterpretation of the Three Laws from "The Evitable Conflict," and the idea of a lying robot from "Liar," but hardly enough to constitute adaptations. I don't even need to tell you about the other things.
On the surface, Verhoeven's Starship Troopers would seem to apply, but then again, it does (poorly) adapt the plot and character: Rico, Raszcak, Rico being flogged for failing in testing, training is hazardous and deadly, the bugs annihilate Rico's home Buenos Aires, the invasion of Klendathu, Dizzy Flores dies, the arachnids are more intelligent than first believed. I'd say it's closer to Conan the Barbarian than, say, The Lord of the Rings in terms of adaptation, though. Certainly the themes are highly opposed.
So, over to you. Can you think of anything?
A Clockwork Orange retains the characters, themes and plot of the book. Alex de Large is a delinquent obsessed with classical music, leader of a gang called the Droogs, who commit atrocious acts of violence; after attacking a couple and raping the wife, he is captured, and subjected to the Ludovico technique, which instils an aversion to violence that utterly transforms him. Sure, certain elements are changed, but it still follows the story, adapts the characters, and retains the themes.
Same with Jaws. A shark is threatening Amity Island, Chief Martin Brody has to campaign against the mayor to close the beach and kill the shark, he hires oceanographer Matt Hooper and shark hunter Quint to kill it, the three don't get along but eventually bond, before Brody sees the shark die. Sure, certain elements are changed, but it still follows the story, adapts the characters, and retains the themes.
Planet of the Apes. An earthman crashes his spaceship on a strange planet; the humans are brutish and apelike, and encounter an ape hunting party, who have reached civilization, and have mastered language, technology and culture, though their origins are lost to time; the earthman is adopted by two sympathetic ape scientists called Cornelius and Zira, who are astonished by his intelligence; ape society is divided between warlike gorillas, political orang-utans and intellectual chimpanzees; the truth of the planet is discovered, as it's revealed to be earth in the far future after an ape rebellion. Sure, certain elements are changed, but it still follows the story, adapts the characters, and retains the themes.
Man, if only we got Conan films as unfaithful as those adaptations.
I've been through this before, but I'm still absolutely perplexed at the idea that anyone could consider what Stone & Milius did with Conan to be remotely comparable to those other films. Then I thought: perhaps you, yes you, could help?
What I'm asking is for you to provide an example of an adaptation of a character which is as alien to the source material as Conan the Barbarian is. In order to qualify, I'm going to suggest a few things:
- Every character in the film is an original creation, aside from the main character. They could borrow a name from the mythology or one of the author's other works (as in Thulsa Doom), but they have to be largely completely independent in personality, biography and appearance.
- The film's story is an original creation. There can be scenes and elements lifted from the source material, but the overarching narrative, subplots and the like have to be introduced by the screenwriters.
- The central tenets of the origin story for the character, if present, have to be either ignored or directly contradicted.
- The philosophy, themes and allusions are sometimes contradictory to the original source material.
Sound good? It's actually bothering me that I can't think of that many adaptations. That said, I won't exclude suitably divergent adaptations that don't adhere to the above: I just want to know if Conan's in good company.
Right now, I can think of only one: Alex Proyas' I, Robot. The de facto main character of the stories, Dr. Susan Calvin, is present in the film, albeit pushed into second banana for Will Smith, and aside from occupation, belief in the innate decency of robots, and antipathy to humans, she isn't very similar to the original character. For one thing, Asimov's Calvin wasn't a supermodel before she was a doctor. The story is largely an invention, originally a science fiction film called Hardwired that had nothing to do with Asimov, before it was retroactively dolled up after the author's death. There are a few lifts from the stories, such as a robot hiding among its duplicates a la "Little Lost Robot," the reinterpretation of the Three Laws from "The Evitable Conflict," and the idea of a lying robot from "Liar," but hardly enough to constitute adaptations. I don't even need to tell you about the other things.
On the surface, Verhoeven's Starship Troopers would seem to apply, but then again, it does (poorly) adapt the plot and character: Rico, Raszcak, Rico being flogged for failing in testing, training is hazardous and deadly, the bugs annihilate Rico's home Buenos Aires, the invasion of Klendathu, Dizzy Flores dies, the arachnids are more intelligent than first believed. I'd say it's closer to Conan the Barbarian than, say, The Lord of the Rings in terms of adaptation, though. Certainly the themes are highly opposed.
So, over to you. Can you think of anything?
Free for Goodness
However, something free is always the top choice in choosing. So also in life. We live is not for free, but pay. And we should pay our lives with kindness, not vanity.But, why do we always want the best in life without paying the slightest. Goodness must be paid, but always free.
Am I correct?
Please Excuse My Mess
I'm trying to clean up the blog so it is easier to use, but I'm not very good with computers. Please bare with me as I figure this out!
Will OSC Have A Cameo Appearance?
Orson Scott Card was asked on Hatrack whether he would have a cameo appearance in the Ender's Game movie. Here are some of the responses:
OSC: I want to put on a cool costume and be the Hive Queen.
A Rat Named Dog (Geoff Card): I think he should be an officer sitting on the shuttle that takes Bean to Battle School. He should give Bean a contemptuous look, and then return to reading a book.
OSC: By the way, Rat Named Dog was cheating. He's read the script and he KNEW there was such an officer who glances at Bean contemptuously on the shuttle. But until he suggested it, I never thought of that as an Orson-worthy cameo. Now, you can be sure I will. They'll stick me in the film IF my script is used, and that's as good a spot as any.
OSC: If they use my script, then they probably won't mind my hanging around. If they don't, then I'd be an awkward presence on the set.
Rubble Trouble
Rubble TroubleHelp the workmen to demolish the old buildings using a variety of tools. |
Afterlife,
If human has religion, they are exactly knowing their life destination, they called is hereafter. Hereafter is meaning living after our death. There is still to be mystery for proofing hereafter existence.
Attempting A More Howardian Rewrite
Having read Lagomorph Rex's fascinating overview of Michael A. Stackpole's Conan the Barbarian novelization, I was struck by a few things. One thing was that Stackpole made a lot of changes and additions that I would've made if I were re-writing this film: Conan's grandfather is mentioned, Venarium, greater care is made to have the world and events even broadly match what we know from Howard's work, etc.
Now that we've seen many of the characters and have an idea of the story, I figure I might as well post "Conan the Barbarian: Attempting A More Howardian Rewrite, Or, Let's Fix the Doppenheimer Script," with alterations rising from new casting decisions like Cheren. I had written this a long time ago (16th March 2010, in fact), but because I wanted to include conceptual art of the characters as I would've depicted them, it fell by the wayside.
I've split the story into five acts, with a prologue and epilogue. The acts are roughly twenty minutes to half an hour, while the bookends five or ten minutes. At most, the film would be 2 hours 40 minutes, at least 1 hour 35 minutes: ideally it would be somewhere in between, perhaps a lean 2 hours. This is the best I could manage. I tried to include as many of the Doppenheimer/Lobel/Hood characters as I could, and as many of the plot points. It still isn't anywhere near perfect, and I don't doubt it leads a lot to be desired as a screenplay, but I figured I could at least try.
Amidst a raging sword battle in northwest Cimmeria, a woman, ISLENE, is fighting. She is heavily pregnant, covered in blood, and in labour. After slaying a massive Vanir Marauder, she falls to the ground. CORIN (Ron Perlman), the father of her child, comes to her, and helps deliver the baby. The infant is born in the midst of carnage and slaughter, his young eyes and ears drinking in the chaos. The mother names him CONAN. From there, the credits sequence begins: a narrator recites the Nemedian Chronicles, as we see the lands and peoples of the Hyborian Age, introducing us to the time of Conan.
Conan is a strong child, wise beyond his years. Our first meeting with YOUNG CONAN (Leo Howard) sees him in a pantherskin loin-clout, stalking a mountain beast (a cave lion, cave bear, or similarly imposing creature), which he slays with a spear. As Conan begins to skin the dead beast, a hawk circles overhead, intent on driving the boy from his prize. Conan hurls a rock with pinpoint accuracy, felling the predator. He journeys home with two prizes, climbing sheer cliffs and passing herds of wild Cimmerian cattle. It is not only Conan's father and mother who are important in Conan's early life: his grandfather regales him with tales of the kingdoms to the south, their treasures, their wonders, their treasures. Conan's heart is aflame with desire to see all the world has to offer.
The next day, he is engaging in warrior training with the other Cimmerian lads, who happen to be taught by Conan's grandfather. During one exercise involving an excursion into the forest, Conan and four of his friends are ambushed: all are slain by arrows, save for Conan, who dives into the undergrowth. Conan waits for the attackers to reveal themselves, to take their trophies from the dead boys. After a tense moment, four Picts skulk from the shadows. When they approach the boys to take weapons and baubles, Conan launches himself at them, slaughtering them to a man.
Alerted by the primal death-screams of the Picts, when his father and other clansmen come upon the carnage, they are awestruck by Conan's brutality and savagery, before spreading word of this mighty young warrior to campfires all around Cimmeria. His father, the clan blacksmith, teaches him various methods of the trade, including an interesting philosophical metaphor between the forging of a sword and the training of a warrior. Conan understands the allusion immediately, and throughout the film, he remembers his father's words. Conan's mother tells him of Crom and his dark race, Cimmerian theology, and warns him of the terrors of Cimmerian mythology: she imparts words of wisdom, and not to trust to gods to intervene on his behalf, that he must be self-reliant.
However, she is interrupted by news of a rival clan and their allies approaching their village, intent on a raid: father, mother, grandfather and son go to battle. While fighting, he spies a beautiful Cimmerian girl near his age among the enemy: he resists the urge to kill her when he has the chance, giving her the opportunity to retreat with the survivors of the rival clan. Corin knows this, and mindful of his own father-in-law's experiences, warns Conan of Cimmerian blood-feuds, noting that only with the threat of foreign invasion do the Cimmerians put aside their clan hatreds. Islene tells Conan of the Kings of Acheron who rode north to subjugate the Cimmerians, and how they were hurled back through the combined might of the clans - though the sorcerous power of the Acheronians took its toll on the people. Islene says the story is likely just folklore, but even if it is, it provided a precedent that would prove invaluable to the Cimmerian people in years to come.
Next, a battle between Cimmerians and renegade Aquilonians: the Aquilonians had planned on recruiting the Cimmerians into their army, but negotiations swiftly degenerated into open hostility. Conan has followed the girl's people south, and is viewing the battle from a distance. Once again, he sees that beautiful girl across the battle, and is impressed by her formidable swordplay. He resolves to meet with her late at night near her village, hopeful that she would be open minded. Of course, she isn't, and tries to kill Conan. In the madness of battle--even when Conan is trying to stay alive while loath to kill the girl--they fail to realise how dangerously close they have come to a herd of cattle. A great Cimmerian bull charges them, and aims to gore them both. Realising they cannot run, the two exchange glances: they know they have to work together just to survive. Eventually, through teamwork, they kill the beast, with Conan breaking its very neck. The boy and girl, relationship forged by fire, have a moment. The girl's name is Tamara. One fateful day, Conan and Tamara are alone together in the forest, far from both their homes. It is here that Khalar Shah enters the story.
Years later, we find that CONAN (Jason Momoa) and TAMARA (Rachel Nichols) have grown up together, and Conan has become famed among the Cimmerians, having sent even chieftains' souls to the dark. Conan is now15, but looks even older due to his physique and many scars already lining his skin, gained from his many wanderings throughout Cimmeria outside his home tribelands. A horde of Cimmerians - Tamara's people - are hard pressed against a larger army unlike any seen thus far: veteran GUNDERLAND PIKEMEN holding the warriors at bay, BOSSONIAN ARCHERS raining death from afar, while led by arrogant Aquilonian noble LUCIUS (Steve O'Donnell). Powerful as the Cimmerians are, they are trapped in a bloody stalemate. Soon, a new force comes over a forested hill, lead by a warrior clad in gleaming mail: KHALAR SHAH (Stephen Lang), general of a host of Free Companions. He is followed by his captains: UKAFA (Bob Sapp) and ARTUS (Nonso Anozie), leaders of a group of Black Corsairs; CHEREN (Diana Lubenova), commander of the Turanian horsemen; REMO (Milton Davies), Master-Thief of a group of Zamorian assassins; and FASSIR (Raad Rawi), commander of the Shemite Asshuri. Khalar's daughter MARIQUE (Rose McGowan) is also present, but far from the battlefield on a divan, guarded by the gigantic Hyperborean AKHUN (Nathan Jones).
Khalar has come to Gunderland ostensibly as a mercenary general, to assist the Gundermen in their colonisation of southern Cimmeria. However, in secret, Khalar believes he's a descendent of ancient Acheron, and has dreams of empire. His army is small, but is composed of the finest warriors in the world: Corsairs, Kshatriya cavalry, Shemite Asshuri. His Mighty Archers of Turan can kill a foe from half a mile away (some say they do it with such speed, it's as if they have... four arms. Some also say they could slay a man... blindfolded), his Zamorian assassins seem to melt into the shadows as they stalk their prey. It is a force that could take on ten times their number, and be considered to have the advantage.
Khalar's army is all but indestructible, even for Cimmerians: severely weakened by Turanian and Shemite arrow fire, barely half make it to the front line, where the corsairs hold them for the Aquilonian knights to charge into the flanks. Every Cimmerian is slain, and they take a lot of damage to slay: Khalar notes to Lucius that the nearby hill would make a fine site for a settlement. Lucius is affronted, demanding to know why Vilerus sent a mercenary force when he had the Cimmerians well in hand. Khalar is evasive and dismissive: clearly, he has something else on his mind than establishing a fort. Why is Khalar in Cimmeria?
His first task is to establish the settlement of Venarium, which understandably means destroying a few tribes. Though he offers the Cimmerians the option to join him, the proud southerners will not follow a sorcerer (for Cimmerians can detect the taint of sorcery), and Khalar's army, along with his Gundermen allies, exterminates them. The Cimmerians fight ferociously, and any other force would crumble at their assault: Khalar's army is a well-oiled machine, fighting almost as a single being. The Gundermen hold the Cimmerians at bay, the Asshuri wreak havoc with their bows, while the Adventurers close in from the flanks. The Kshatriya crash into the back, the hammer to the Gundermen's anvil, and though the Cimmerians deal some damage, their assault is like that of the sea against a cliff.
Conan and Tamara did not go far before the smoke from the village gathers on the horizon, alerting them to the massacre. He runs to the village to find it in ruins, the bodies of the slain mutilated and arranged in a ghastly panorama as a warning to other Cimmerians. Tamara, speechless, but her grief and fury plain to see, turns to Conan: they know what must be done. Conan and Tamara rush to other villages of the Aquilonian's movements: News of the incursion spreads throughout Cimmeria. Soon, Conan's people hear the word, and many warriors gather to march on the Aquilonians. Conan's people meet up with their habitual foes: without so much as a grudging snarl, they march side by side as one. Within days, the Cimmerians are on the warpath.
Back at the Aquilonian camp, the fort is taking shape, with the army residing in tents. Apart from these is a larger, ominous tent, from which issue strange sounds and lights. The soldiers keep away from this eldritch place, while Artus braves the tent. He is held back by Ukafa, who warns him not to disturb Khalar when he is in his tent - especially when he is not alone. Artus pushes his brother out of the way and goes through - where he sees a sight that fills him with horror and revulsion. Khalar, realising that Artus may have seen to much, has Ukafa put Artus in chains, and orders decimation of the corsairs on the spot. The next day: Khalar's army have been helpful for the Gundermen establishing the fort town of Venarium, though Khalar takes his leave with his lieutenants (leaving his army under Lucius' command), dissatisfied at being unable to coax the Cimmerians, and decides to head for Hyperborea. The Gundermen are glad of this, having witnessed some of his horrific sorcery first-hand. As it turns out, he leaves just in time: mere days later, the Cimmerians assault Venarium.
This time, the Gundermen are powerless to stop the Cimmerian assault. The Cimmerians swarm over the hills, cutting down the hastily-arranged Gundermen schiltroms. When Khalar's forces arrange themselves, they stolidly stand their ground, but the numbers are just too vast. The Cimmerians overwhelm the army like a wave, and begin to climb the walls of Venarium.
Inside Venarium itself, Tamara finds and interrogates Lucius, who tells her of Khalar's plans, though he merely knows that he's heading "north". Tamara slays Lucius, and leaves without delay. Having been split up from Tamara, Conan is searching for her, before finding Lucius. Conan frees a number of outlaws in the holding cells clamour for Conan, begging for him to release them: one of them, a certain thief named ELA-SHAN (Said Taghmaoui), realises that Conan must be searching for Tamara, and promises to tell him if he frees them. Conan frees him anyway, and the thief tells him she went to find Khalar. Khalar hid his tracks well, and Tamara is a strong tracker, leaving practically no spoor for Conan to follow.
Weeks have passed since Venarium. Conan, with his Aesir allies, have been following rumours and suggestion, making their way east, until they learn of the dread kingdom of Hyperborea, a name synonymous with cruelty and civilization's darkest side.
Khalar has set up shop in the westernmost Hyperborean city, in the cyclopean castle which has lasted since Hyperborea's early history. The king of Hyperborea is jealous of Khalar's power, and (correctly) surmises that Khalar has designs on the kingdom. However, for the moment Khalar aims to leave Hyperborea when his work is done: work involving communing with the Outer Dark, bargaining with the enigmatic Yara, and even conspiring with outcasts of the Black Ring. His next plan is to head to an ancient temple in the steppes between Hyperborea and Turan, believed to be the home of a great magic he seeks. Tamara sneaks into the city, gathering as much information as she can about Khalar.
Conan and his Aesir plan to attack the city, but they are captured by Hyperborean slavers, and put in a cell with Artus, who now realises that the Cimmerians may be his only means of escape. The barbarians are imprisoned and systematically tortured, under the command of Akhun. Witnessing and experiencing this horror gives Conan a hatred of Hyperboreans that lasts his whole life. Tamara, who is unaware of Conan's presence, follows Khalar east. As his fellow Aesir die, vigorous and enduring they may be, Conan realises he must escape. A mixture of misdirection, crafty planning and sheer brutality earn his escape, alongside Artus, who has thrown his lot in with Conan. Artus makes for the long-winding Illbars river: he has friends among the Red Brotherhood, and plans to meet up with them. Conan, however, heads east to find Tamara. They, in turn, are followed by Akhun, along with Remo's assassins.
Khalar comes to the mysterious hidden temple in the steppes. This is, in fact, the final settlement of a group of Acheronians, who fled the dark nation centuries before its demise. They survived the fall, and have kept the bloodline pure. ILIRA (Unknown, but if Ilira has been cut from the story, upgrade Shelly Varod, Alina Puscau, or Katarzyna Wolejnio to the role) is a member of this bloodline, though only one out of all the people have royal blood in their vein: this secret is well-kept, for royal Acheronian blood is a potent conduit of sorcery. The Ashkauri Dynasty of Khauran is a similar example of genetic predisposition to magic. Khalar assaults the temple, and puts the nobles in chains, before taking them back to his citadel Khor Khala, on the northern shores of the Vilayet. Tamara moves close, only to be captured by Hyperborean slavers. Khalar sends Remo's assassins and his hand-picked Kshatriya Riders out to search for any others in the region who might have Acheronian blood.
As luck would have it, Conan was following the slavers east, where he comes upon a battle outside a Hyperborean army camp: they are apparently building siege engines. The horsemen's demand for the slavers to turn their quarry over to Khalar doesn't go over well, and the Hyperboreans and Kshatriya go to battle. In the chaos, Tamara escapes, and sneaks away to find Conan, though Remo and his assassins spot him. In the night, the assassins attempt to capture Tamara and slay Conan, but they did not reckon on the Cimmerians' own stealthy nature, and they are slain - save for Remo, who Conan cripples, and plans to use as a bargaining tool.
At Khor Khala, situated on a northern tributary of the Illbars, Khalar has his own problems. The blasphemous horror he summoned is rejecting all the Acheronians that are fed to him, none with the royal bloodline he seeks. His prized Kshatriya appear to be lost. His lieutenant and his daughter are all separately conspiring to usurp him. The king of Turan is ever more threatened by this unknown presence on the border, as is the larger sorcerous community of the Black Ring and the Black Circle, viewing him as a mounting nuisance to their supremacy. His army, now in the tens of thousands, is growing restless and unwieldy. However, he puts those problems aside when a ship bearing the colours of the Red Brotherhood - Artus and his crew - sails down the river, and launches a single missile from its shipboard ballista - the mangled, screaming Remo, impaled on a spear, bearing Conan's ransom.
Khalar agrees to meet with Conan, and the two exchange commentaries on civilization, barbarism, sorcery and their own upbringing. Conan's trap is eventually sprung, but Khalar is too wily for it, and the meeting devolves into chaos. Conan fights Khalar, but the sorcerer is imbued with terrible strength and skill, too much for even Conan's ferocity to overcome. When it becomes clear the battle cannot be won, Conan has to physically put Tamara on Artus' ship onto the Vilayet, with Khalar's fastest ship in hot pursuit. After a little down-time where the captain speaks of the mounting tension between Hyperborea and Turan - both nations are amassing their armies, the Captain gives Conan a mysterious charm to protect him against magic, and Conan and Tamara muse on philosophy and more base desires, Khalar's ship catches up. A sea battle ensues, with Conan and Fassir having an epic showdown, and the pirates victorious. Victory is short-lived, however, as Khalar's entire navy appears on the horizon. Conan and Tamara decide to split from the pirates, who use the ship to draw the navy away while the two sneak back to Khor Khala.
Disguised, Conan and Tamara try to find a way into Khor Khala and Khalar's fortress, protected on all sides by deadly Turanian archers. While prowling the walls, too slick and sheer for even a Cimmerian, they come upon a band of thieves. Just as Conan plans to cut through them, he recognizes their leader - Ela-Shan, that thief he freed weeks ago at Venarium. Ela-Shan tells him of the ancient catacombs beneath the fortress, with the warning that none come back alive. Conan and Tamara, resolute, make preparations over a few days, where he tells Conan of the wonders of his homeland, Brythunia. Soon, the two plunge into the darkness. In the meantime, Artus sets a plan in motion, using his Red Brotherhood allies to further increase tension between Hyperborea, Turan and Khor Khala, and establishes contact with Ela-Shan. There, they bear mute witness to the horrors beneath Khor Khala: piles of bones and rotting sacrifices, demonic snakes, the suggestion of things lurking in the dark - things that had once been human. Conan's supernatural terror almost gets the better of him, though the flight through the catacombs leads them to the castle itself.
Conan and Tamara discover Ilira and the other Acheronians. However, they must deal with Akhun, who intends to ingratiate himself with Khalar in the new empire, and won't allow Ilira to escape. A fight between Conan, Tamara and the guards ensues, during which Akhun runs with Ilira to Khalar. Conan and Tamara are in pursuit. When Akhun finds Khalar, he sees him in a lotus-induced stupor, and alerts Ukafa of the fact. Ukafa hurriedly goes to his surviving allies Marique and Cheren, planning on using Ilira's power themselves to forge an empire. However, at that moment, the castle rocks: the city is under siege. The Red Brotherhood have incited Hyperborea and Turan (the latter under the command of a certain Prince Yezdigerd) to violence against Khor Khala, which they believe is responsible for the attacks on their outlying settlements. Both nations have mustered formidable armies, and they assault Khor Khala. With Khalar still out of sorts, the leaders prepare for battle, while Marique attempts to do the sorcery necessary to unlock the power of Ilira's Acheronian blood.
Hyperborea's army has great war machines: trebuchets, catapults, onagers, siege towers and rams, as well as heavy cavalry, infantry and archers numbering in the tens of thousands. Turan, meanwhile, has a fleet of purple-sailed Hyrkanian ships bombarding the shore with ballistas and fire, as well as a host of Turanian horsemen. Artus and the Captain sneak into the city thanks to Ela-Shan, and they begin to sabotage the defenders. The battle is intense, and for all Khor Khala's impressiveness, the siege engines are relentless, and the walls start to give. Meanwhile, Conan and Tamara catch up with Marique and Akhun. However, Conan and Tamara are utterly trounced by Marique's sorcery, as Akhun fastens Ilira to a stone altar.
Just then, however, Khalar enters. He is disappointed in Marique, whose ambitions and resentment of her father are now in the open. The two begin a War of Souls, as the walls of the citadel begin to crumble with the impact of trebuchet blows and black sorcery. With the two sorcerers distracted, Conan & Tamara make for Ilira, but Akhun strikes. Both warriors battle as the sorcerers duel, and Tamara tries to free Ilira. Eventually, Khalar destroys Marique, and turns his attention to Conan. Khalar's magic is too great even with the Captain's charm, and he brutalizes Conan.
The battle is going poorly for the defenders: Artus and Ela-Shan have opened the gates for the invaders, and come to blows against Ukafa. Artus pleads with Ukafa to reconsider, but the warrior's sense of honour compels him to fight. However, Cheren enters the fray, and Ukafa must choose where his loyalties lie. After a great duel, Ukafa slays Cheren to prevent the death of his brother, though is mortally slain by Cheren's vengeful archers. The corsairs, seeing Ukafa fall, immediately turn on their former Turanian allies. With the defending forces in disarray, the Hyrkanians and Hyperboreans swarm into the city.
Akhun has Tamara in a vice-like grip. Khalar looks like he's about to finish Conan off, until Tamara taunts him. Khalar's pride overrides his common sense, and he turns from Conan to confront her. He tells Akhun to deal with Conan: Akhun drops Tamara, and stalks towards Conan. All the while, Tamara has been inching her hand to Akhun's scabbard: she skilfully unsheathes the sword without Akhun's awareness. Akhun arrogantly kicks and beats Conan, while Khalar toys with Tamara. When Akhun reaches for his sword, he realizes Tamara's plan, and calls out to warn Khalar. With the millisecond of Khalar's distraction all Tamara needs, she hurls the sword full into Khalar's chest. Thinking fast, Conan uses the distraction to summon his last ounce of strength, and smites Akhun with all his strength, paralysing him. Khalar, clawing madly at the sword, glares defiantly at Tamara, who charges at the wizard, and sends him hurtling backwards into the abyss.
The room rocks, as the assault from the Hyperborean trebuchets starts to bring down the citadel. Conan and Tamara free Ilira from her chains and flee from the crumbling chaos, as the Horror screams hideously and its tentacles flail wildly. Akhun is powerless to act, his eyes staring in stark terror. Fade to black as debris and destruction rain down...
As smoke and fire rise from the streets of Khor Khala, the screams of the dying and shouts of the victorious roaring in the distance, Tamara sits contemplative on the ruins. They discuss their future: Tamara has no love for civilization, having seen the cruelty of Hyperborea and Khor Khala firsthand. She seeks to go back to Cimmeria, where men are honest and life hard but worthy. Conan, however, has a different plan: he has to believe that the Hyborian Kingdoms have more to offer than he's seen in Hyperborea and Khor Khala, and plans to go to them for himself. Tamara notes that Brythunia's in the rough direction she's going, so they resolve to travel together for a little longer.
Conan is, hopefully, a bit less the product of revenge. Unfortunately, the fact that he's effectively chasing after Tamara might give the unfortunate impression that he's a supporting character in his own film.
I've basically turned her from faux-action girl into real action girl, in the vein of Red Sonya or Dark Agnes. Comparisons to Lady Vengeance/Kill Bill are probably inevitable, but I care not. She'd more closely resemble the near-feral Pictish warrior Olga Kurylenko portrayed in Centurion than Scarlett from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
Drop the Zym. I've made Khalar a severely displaced Acheronian: his ancestors went to what would become Vendhya, where they planned to join with the People of the Black Circle, but they ended up scattered by the invading Ghuli into isolated communities in the hills, as their compatriots did in Aquilonia. His people had all but forgotten their dark heritage (explaining the Vendhyan/Iranistani name), but he always had a talent for dark magic, as well as being a formidable fighter. Like Khemsa, he became an acolyte of the Black Circle, but learning of his true origins, he decided to strike out on his own, and after a while of wandering, mercenary work and employ in imperial armies, he sought to forge a new empire of his own making. I'm unsure how much of this will actually get into the film - might end up being that supplementary material I hate so much - but it would help explain Khalar a bit more.
Not a big fan of "Corin" as a name, being as it seems to be inspired by the latin Quirinus. Still, far preferable to something like Mordec. I've also made him less of a Cimmerian Mr MiYoda. That said, Ron Perlman is so damn old-looking in the material we've seen, I'm half tempted to just cast him as Conan's grandfather, and have one of the other Cimmerians play his dad. Maybe Ray the Dead Barbarian.
Change the name to something closer to Khalar (Indo-European), or an Acheronian (Greekish) sounding name. She's... not that great, though perhaps "proto-Goth Rocker" isn't the best way to describe her. I'm deliberating over whether to make her "sexy-evil" like Salome of "A Witch Shall Be Born," or make her more like Atla of "Worms of the Earth."
Ilira is not a "Queen of Acheron", but she is part of the pure bloodline of nobles of that eldritch nation. However, though she was raised in the history of Acheron, she wanted no part of it. She is an exceedingly minor part in the film, but I wanted to keep her in it as a MacGuffin.
I'd like to promote this character into the role of "Bad Guy's Enforcer" over Ukafa, since I've had enough of Conan fighting a black dude in movies. Luckily, Nathan Jones isn't too bad an actor for this sort of role, and he'd certainly make a formidable opponent. The question is what to make him? A Vanir or Aesir are too similar to Thorgrimm and Rexor. I'd replace him with a Hyperborean, personally, since Conan's early life is marked by a hatred of them, and it would be fortuitous to tie it in with the film's plot.
While I hate the character, I resolved to keep as much of the film as possible. However, I wanted to add a bit more intrigue, so I decided to make Ukafa and Artus brothers. Having two black dudes so far north seemed to stretch credulity: to have them relatives at least gives some excuse for there to be two or more.
Change the name to something Zamorian. Remo can be a Zamorian master-assassin, possibly using magic, or at least Nabonidus-esque science, to assist his work. He'd be a much tougher opponent for Conan than the shadow-scout version.
Replace with a more Shemite name. Fassir is now another of Khalar's lieutenants.
The only character in the script that could work: just make him less obviously Roman in attire.
I decided to use him as a tie-in to Conan's first civilized wanderings in Brythunia, so he serves a purpose beyond just helping Conan and Tamara out.
I'd replace the name with something more in line with Ukafa, obviously. I think having a displaced Black Corsair as the captain of a Red Brotherhood ship would nicely allay the "Conan always fights black people" nonsense. Conan already has black friends in Sakumbe, Ajonga, Yasunga, Laranga, N'Gora and N'Yaga (not to mention Juba and Zula in the pastiches) so it would be nice to reflect that in the film.
Cheren will be a Turanian type, though obviously with a more Turanian name. Since next to nothing is known about her, I'm going to make her a sort of "sympathetic villain," in that she isn't really a bad guy, she's just on the wrong side.
I have my own ideas on what Conan's mother's name would be, but as Deuce said, Aislinn or Eileen are pretty close to Islene. Unlike this script, Conan the Barbarian and countless others, Conan's mother doesn't die in his. I'm sick of the "one parent" syndrome.
An interesting aspect I'd really like to try for the film is to make Conan's mother naked. There's a line in an early draft of "Black Colossus" which displays Cimmerian women in a rather stark light:
But if that's impossible, ah well. I just think there's something really powerful and primitive about the visual of a naked, pregnant, bloodstained woman: all the primal aspects of the Earth Mother Goddess, Protector and Attacker, Creator and Destroyer, all that jazz.
I'm tempted to have a sort of echo of the opening moment of "The Frost Giant's Daughter" with the marauder and Conan's mother do a variation on the banter between Conan and Heimdul, though that might be too much. In any case, the guy would be huge, but he wouldn't kill Conan's mother.
This treatment makes a lot of interpretations of Howard and Conan that I don't necessarily agree with. For instance, it turns Conan's choice to leave Cimmeria from simple wanderlust into chasing a girl with the "Kill Bill" style vengeance, which is a simplification of Conan's motivations. It also has Khalar implicit in Venarium, diluting the irony of Conan assaulting the very people he would one day rule, as well as added a rather unnecessary personal aspect to the endeavour. I'm not a fan of many of the characters, but I've endeavoured to include as many as possible, with suitable alterations.
Now, there are many elements of the story which are, unfortunately, pretty integral to how the script goes: the revenge element, Riddle of Steel 2.0, Khalar etc, and I really doubt Doppenheimer would be happy with taking them out. Obviously there are tons of Hyborian tidbits I'd change that one would know upon viewing of said script, but again, that'd be too specific.
Overall, outside things like sadism, post-modern incongruity, dialogue and plotting, there is a slim - sliiim - possibility of turning this into a Conan film. Not a Robert E. Howard film, but maybe - just maybe - a Conan film that wouldn't look too bad next to Conan the Adventurer or the De Matteis comics.
Now that we've seen many of the characters and have an idea of the story, I figure I might as well post "Conan the Barbarian: Attempting A More Howardian Rewrite, Or, Let's Fix the Doppenheimer Script," with alterations rising from new casting decisions like Cheren. I had written this a long time ago (16th March 2010, in fact), but because I wanted to include conceptual art of the characters as I would've depicted them, it fell by the wayside.
I've split the story into five acts, with a prologue and epilogue. The acts are roughly twenty minutes to half an hour, while the bookends five or ten minutes. At most, the film would be 2 hours 40 minutes, at least 1 hour 35 minutes: ideally it would be somewhere in between, perhaps a lean 2 hours. This is the best I could manage. I tried to include as many of the Doppenheimer/Lobel/Hood characters as I could, and as many of the plot points. It still isn't anywhere near perfect, and I don't doubt it leads a lot to be desired as a screenplay, but I figured I could at least try.
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Prologue
Amidst a raging sword battle in northwest Cimmeria, a woman, ISLENE, is fighting. She is heavily pregnant, covered in blood, and in labour. After slaying a massive Vanir Marauder, she falls to the ground. CORIN (Ron Perlman), the father of her child, comes to her, and helps deliver the baby. The infant is born in the midst of carnage and slaughter, his young eyes and ears drinking in the chaos. The mother names him CONAN. From there, the credits sequence begins: a narrator recites the Nemedian Chronicles, as we see the lands and peoples of the Hyborian Age, introducing us to the time of Conan.
Act I
Conan is a strong child, wise beyond his years. Our first meeting with YOUNG CONAN (Leo Howard) sees him in a pantherskin loin-clout, stalking a mountain beast (a cave lion, cave bear, or similarly imposing creature), which he slays with a spear. As Conan begins to skin the dead beast, a hawk circles overhead, intent on driving the boy from his prize. Conan hurls a rock with pinpoint accuracy, felling the predator. He journeys home with two prizes, climbing sheer cliffs and passing herds of wild Cimmerian cattle. It is not only Conan's father and mother who are important in Conan's early life: his grandfather regales him with tales of the kingdoms to the south, their treasures, their wonders, their treasures. Conan's heart is aflame with desire to see all the world has to offer.
The next day, he is engaging in warrior training with the other Cimmerian lads, who happen to be taught by Conan's grandfather. During one exercise involving an excursion into the forest, Conan and four of his friends are ambushed: all are slain by arrows, save for Conan, who dives into the undergrowth. Conan waits for the attackers to reveal themselves, to take their trophies from the dead boys. After a tense moment, four Picts skulk from the shadows. When they approach the boys to take weapons and baubles, Conan launches himself at them, slaughtering them to a man.
Alerted by the primal death-screams of the Picts, when his father and other clansmen come upon the carnage, they are awestruck by Conan's brutality and savagery, before spreading word of this mighty young warrior to campfires all around Cimmeria. His father, the clan blacksmith, teaches him various methods of the trade, including an interesting philosophical metaphor between the forging of a sword and the training of a warrior. Conan understands the allusion immediately, and throughout the film, he remembers his father's words. Conan's mother tells him of Crom and his dark race, Cimmerian theology, and warns him of the terrors of Cimmerian mythology: she imparts words of wisdom, and not to trust to gods to intervene on his behalf, that he must be self-reliant.
However, she is interrupted by news of a rival clan and their allies approaching their village, intent on a raid: father, mother, grandfather and son go to battle. While fighting, he spies a beautiful Cimmerian girl near his age among the enemy: he resists the urge to kill her when he has the chance, giving her the opportunity to retreat with the survivors of the rival clan. Corin knows this, and mindful of his own father-in-law's experiences, warns Conan of Cimmerian blood-feuds, noting that only with the threat of foreign invasion do the Cimmerians put aside their clan hatreds. Islene tells Conan of the Kings of Acheron who rode north to subjugate the Cimmerians, and how they were hurled back through the combined might of the clans - though the sorcerous power of the Acheronians took its toll on the people. Islene says the story is likely just folklore, but even if it is, it provided a precedent that would prove invaluable to the Cimmerian people in years to come.
Next, a battle between Cimmerians and renegade Aquilonians: the Aquilonians had planned on recruiting the Cimmerians into their army, but negotiations swiftly degenerated into open hostility. Conan has followed the girl's people south, and is viewing the battle from a distance. Once again, he sees that beautiful girl across the battle, and is impressed by her formidable swordplay. He resolves to meet with her late at night near her village, hopeful that she would be open minded. Of course, she isn't, and tries to kill Conan. In the madness of battle--even when Conan is trying to stay alive while loath to kill the girl--they fail to realise how dangerously close they have come to a herd of cattle. A great Cimmerian bull charges them, and aims to gore them both. Realising they cannot run, the two exchange glances: they know they have to work together just to survive. Eventually, through teamwork, they kill the beast, with Conan breaking its very neck. The boy and girl, relationship forged by fire, have a moment. The girl's name is Tamara. One fateful day, Conan and Tamara are alone together in the forest, far from both their homes. It is here that Khalar Shah enters the story.
Act II
Years later, we find that CONAN (Jason Momoa) and TAMARA (Rachel Nichols) have grown up together, and Conan has become famed among the Cimmerians, having sent even chieftains' souls to the dark. Conan is now15, but looks even older due to his physique and many scars already lining his skin, gained from his many wanderings throughout Cimmeria outside his home tribelands. A horde of Cimmerians - Tamara's people - are hard pressed against a larger army unlike any seen thus far: veteran GUNDERLAND PIKEMEN holding the warriors at bay, BOSSONIAN ARCHERS raining death from afar, while led by arrogant Aquilonian noble LUCIUS (Steve O'Donnell). Powerful as the Cimmerians are, they are trapped in a bloody stalemate. Soon, a new force comes over a forested hill, lead by a warrior clad in gleaming mail: KHALAR SHAH (Stephen Lang), general of a host of Free Companions. He is followed by his captains: UKAFA (Bob Sapp) and ARTUS (Nonso Anozie), leaders of a group of Black Corsairs; CHEREN (Diana Lubenova), commander of the Turanian horsemen; REMO (Milton Davies), Master-Thief of a group of Zamorian assassins; and FASSIR (Raad Rawi), commander of the Shemite Asshuri. Khalar's daughter MARIQUE (Rose McGowan) is also present, but far from the battlefield on a divan, guarded by the gigantic Hyperborean AKHUN (Nathan Jones).
Khalar has come to Gunderland ostensibly as a mercenary general, to assist the Gundermen in their colonisation of southern Cimmeria. However, in secret, Khalar believes he's a descendent of ancient Acheron, and has dreams of empire. His army is small, but is composed of the finest warriors in the world: Corsairs, Kshatriya cavalry, Shemite Asshuri. His Mighty Archers of Turan can kill a foe from half a mile away (some say they do it with such speed, it's as if they have... four arms. Some also say they could slay a man... blindfolded), his Zamorian assassins seem to melt into the shadows as they stalk their prey. It is a force that could take on ten times their number, and be considered to have the advantage.
Khalar's army is all but indestructible, even for Cimmerians: severely weakened by Turanian and Shemite arrow fire, barely half make it to the front line, where the corsairs hold them for the Aquilonian knights to charge into the flanks. Every Cimmerian is slain, and they take a lot of damage to slay: Khalar notes to Lucius that the nearby hill would make a fine site for a settlement. Lucius is affronted, demanding to know why Vilerus sent a mercenary force when he had the Cimmerians well in hand. Khalar is evasive and dismissive: clearly, he has something else on his mind than establishing a fort. Why is Khalar in Cimmeria?
His first task is to establish the settlement of Venarium, which understandably means destroying a few tribes. Though he offers the Cimmerians the option to join him, the proud southerners will not follow a sorcerer (for Cimmerians can detect the taint of sorcery), and Khalar's army, along with his Gundermen allies, exterminates them. The Cimmerians fight ferociously, and any other force would crumble at their assault: Khalar's army is a well-oiled machine, fighting almost as a single being. The Gundermen hold the Cimmerians at bay, the Asshuri wreak havoc with their bows, while the Adventurers close in from the flanks. The Kshatriya crash into the back, the hammer to the Gundermen's anvil, and though the Cimmerians deal some damage, their assault is like that of the sea against a cliff.
Conan and Tamara did not go far before the smoke from the village gathers on the horizon, alerting them to the massacre. He runs to the village to find it in ruins, the bodies of the slain mutilated and arranged in a ghastly panorama as a warning to other Cimmerians. Tamara, speechless, but her grief and fury plain to see, turns to Conan: they know what must be done. Conan and Tamara rush to other villages of the Aquilonian's movements: News of the incursion spreads throughout Cimmeria. Soon, Conan's people hear the word, and many warriors gather to march on the Aquilonians. Conan's people meet up with their habitual foes: without so much as a grudging snarl, they march side by side as one. Within days, the Cimmerians are on the warpath.
Back at the Aquilonian camp, the fort is taking shape, with the army residing in tents. Apart from these is a larger, ominous tent, from which issue strange sounds and lights. The soldiers keep away from this eldritch place, while Artus braves the tent. He is held back by Ukafa, who warns him not to disturb Khalar when he is in his tent - especially when he is not alone. Artus pushes his brother out of the way and goes through - where he sees a sight that fills him with horror and revulsion. Khalar, realising that Artus may have seen to much, has Ukafa put Artus in chains, and orders decimation of the corsairs on the spot. The next day: Khalar's army have been helpful for the Gundermen establishing the fort town of Venarium, though Khalar takes his leave with his lieutenants (leaving his army under Lucius' command), dissatisfied at being unable to coax the Cimmerians, and decides to head for Hyperborea. The Gundermen are glad of this, having witnessed some of his horrific sorcery first-hand. As it turns out, he leaves just in time: mere days later, the Cimmerians assault Venarium.
This time, the Gundermen are powerless to stop the Cimmerian assault. The Cimmerians swarm over the hills, cutting down the hastily-arranged Gundermen schiltroms. When Khalar's forces arrange themselves, they stolidly stand their ground, but the numbers are just too vast. The Cimmerians overwhelm the army like a wave, and begin to climb the walls of Venarium.
Inside Venarium itself, Tamara finds and interrogates Lucius, who tells her of Khalar's plans, though he merely knows that he's heading "north". Tamara slays Lucius, and leaves without delay. Having been split up from Tamara, Conan is searching for her, before finding Lucius. Conan frees a number of outlaws in the holding cells clamour for Conan, begging for him to release them: one of them, a certain thief named ELA-SHAN (Said Taghmaoui), realises that Conan must be searching for Tamara, and promises to tell him if he frees them. Conan frees him anyway, and the thief tells him she went to find Khalar. Khalar hid his tracks well, and Tamara is a strong tracker, leaving practically no spoor for Conan to follow.
Act III
Weeks have passed since Venarium. Conan, with his Aesir allies, have been following rumours and suggestion, making their way east, until they learn of the dread kingdom of Hyperborea, a name synonymous with cruelty and civilization's darkest side.
Khalar has set up shop in the westernmost Hyperborean city, in the cyclopean castle which has lasted since Hyperborea's early history. The king of Hyperborea is jealous of Khalar's power, and (correctly) surmises that Khalar has designs on the kingdom. However, for the moment Khalar aims to leave Hyperborea when his work is done: work involving communing with the Outer Dark, bargaining with the enigmatic Yara, and even conspiring with outcasts of the Black Ring. His next plan is to head to an ancient temple in the steppes between Hyperborea and Turan, believed to be the home of a great magic he seeks. Tamara sneaks into the city, gathering as much information as she can about Khalar.
Conan and his Aesir plan to attack the city, but they are captured by Hyperborean slavers, and put in a cell with Artus, who now realises that the Cimmerians may be his only means of escape. The barbarians are imprisoned and systematically tortured, under the command of Akhun. Witnessing and experiencing this horror gives Conan a hatred of Hyperboreans that lasts his whole life. Tamara, who is unaware of Conan's presence, follows Khalar east. As his fellow Aesir die, vigorous and enduring they may be, Conan realises he must escape. A mixture of misdirection, crafty planning and sheer brutality earn his escape, alongside Artus, who has thrown his lot in with Conan. Artus makes for the long-winding Illbars river: he has friends among the Red Brotherhood, and plans to meet up with them. Conan, however, heads east to find Tamara. They, in turn, are followed by Akhun, along with Remo's assassins.
Khalar comes to the mysterious hidden temple in the steppes. This is, in fact, the final settlement of a group of Acheronians, who fled the dark nation centuries before its demise. They survived the fall, and have kept the bloodline pure. ILIRA (Unknown, but if Ilira has been cut from the story, upgrade Shelly Varod, Alina Puscau, or Katarzyna Wolejnio to the role) is a member of this bloodline, though only one out of all the people have royal blood in their vein: this secret is well-kept, for royal Acheronian blood is a potent conduit of sorcery. The Ashkauri Dynasty of Khauran is a similar example of genetic predisposition to magic. Khalar assaults the temple, and puts the nobles in chains, before taking them back to his citadel Khor Khala, on the northern shores of the Vilayet. Tamara moves close, only to be captured by Hyperborean slavers. Khalar sends Remo's assassins and his hand-picked Kshatriya Riders out to search for any others in the region who might have Acheronian blood.
As luck would have it, Conan was following the slavers east, where he comes upon a battle outside a Hyperborean army camp: they are apparently building siege engines. The horsemen's demand for the slavers to turn their quarry over to Khalar doesn't go over well, and the Hyperboreans and Kshatriya go to battle. In the chaos, Tamara escapes, and sneaks away to find Conan, though Remo and his assassins spot him. In the night, the assassins attempt to capture Tamara and slay Conan, but they did not reckon on the Cimmerians' own stealthy nature, and they are slain - save for Remo, who Conan cripples, and plans to use as a bargaining tool.
Act IV
At Khor Khala, situated on a northern tributary of the Illbars, Khalar has his own problems. The blasphemous horror he summoned is rejecting all the Acheronians that are fed to him, none with the royal bloodline he seeks. His prized Kshatriya appear to be lost. His lieutenant and his daughter are all separately conspiring to usurp him. The king of Turan is ever more threatened by this unknown presence on the border, as is the larger sorcerous community of the Black Ring and the Black Circle, viewing him as a mounting nuisance to their supremacy. His army, now in the tens of thousands, is growing restless and unwieldy. However, he puts those problems aside when a ship bearing the colours of the Red Brotherhood - Artus and his crew - sails down the river, and launches a single missile from its shipboard ballista - the mangled, screaming Remo, impaled on a spear, bearing Conan's ransom.
Khalar agrees to meet with Conan, and the two exchange commentaries on civilization, barbarism, sorcery and their own upbringing. Conan's trap is eventually sprung, but Khalar is too wily for it, and the meeting devolves into chaos. Conan fights Khalar, but the sorcerer is imbued with terrible strength and skill, too much for even Conan's ferocity to overcome. When it becomes clear the battle cannot be won, Conan has to physically put Tamara on Artus' ship onto the Vilayet, with Khalar's fastest ship in hot pursuit. After a little down-time where the captain speaks of the mounting tension between Hyperborea and Turan - both nations are amassing their armies, the Captain gives Conan a mysterious charm to protect him against magic, and Conan and Tamara muse on philosophy and more base desires, Khalar's ship catches up. A sea battle ensues, with Conan and Fassir having an epic showdown, and the pirates victorious. Victory is short-lived, however, as Khalar's entire navy appears on the horizon. Conan and Tamara decide to split from the pirates, who use the ship to draw the navy away while the two sneak back to Khor Khala.
Disguised, Conan and Tamara try to find a way into Khor Khala and Khalar's fortress, protected on all sides by deadly Turanian archers. While prowling the walls, too slick and sheer for even a Cimmerian, they come upon a band of thieves. Just as Conan plans to cut through them, he recognizes their leader - Ela-Shan, that thief he freed weeks ago at Venarium. Ela-Shan tells him of the ancient catacombs beneath the fortress, with the warning that none come back alive. Conan and Tamara, resolute, make preparations over a few days, where he tells Conan of the wonders of his homeland, Brythunia. Soon, the two plunge into the darkness. In the meantime, Artus sets a plan in motion, using his Red Brotherhood allies to further increase tension between Hyperborea, Turan and Khor Khala, and establishes contact with Ela-Shan. There, they bear mute witness to the horrors beneath Khor Khala: piles of bones and rotting sacrifices, demonic snakes, the suggestion of things lurking in the dark - things that had once been human. Conan's supernatural terror almost gets the better of him, though the flight through the catacombs leads them to the castle itself.
Act V
Conan and Tamara discover Ilira and the other Acheronians. However, they must deal with Akhun, who intends to ingratiate himself with Khalar in the new empire, and won't allow Ilira to escape. A fight between Conan, Tamara and the guards ensues, during which Akhun runs with Ilira to Khalar. Conan and Tamara are in pursuit. When Akhun finds Khalar, he sees him in a lotus-induced stupor, and alerts Ukafa of the fact. Ukafa hurriedly goes to his surviving allies Marique and Cheren, planning on using Ilira's power themselves to forge an empire. However, at that moment, the castle rocks: the city is under siege. The Red Brotherhood have incited Hyperborea and Turan (the latter under the command of a certain Prince Yezdigerd) to violence against Khor Khala, which they believe is responsible for the attacks on their outlying settlements. Both nations have mustered formidable armies, and they assault Khor Khala. With Khalar still out of sorts, the leaders prepare for battle, while Marique attempts to do the sorcery necessary to unlock the power of Ilira's Acheronian blood.
Hyperborea's army has great war machines: trebuchets, catapults, onagers, siege towers and rams, as well as heavy cavalry, infantry and archers numbering in the tens of thousands. Turan, meanwhile, has a fleet of purple-sailed Hyrkanian ships bombarding the shore with ballistas and fire, as well as a host of Turanian horsemen. Artus and the Captain sneak into the city thanks to Ela-Shan, and they begin to sabotage the defenders. The battle is intense, and for all Khor Khala's impressiveness, the siege engines are relentless, and the walls start to give. Meanwhile, Conan and Tamara catch up with Marique and Akhun. However, Conan and Tamara are utterly trounced by Marique's sorcery, as Akhun fastens Ilira to a stone altar.
Just then, however, Khalar enters. He is disappointed in Marique, whose ambitions and resentment of her father are now in the open. The two begin a War of Souls, as the walls of the citadel begin to crumble with the impact of trebuchet blows and black sorcery. With the two sorcerers distracted, Conan & Tamara make for Ilira, but Akhun strikes. Both warriors battle as the sorcerers duel, and Tamara tries to free Ilira. Eventually, Khalar destroys Marique, and turns his attention to Conan. Khalar's magic is too great even with the Captain's charm, and he brutalizes Conan.
The battle is going poorly for the defenders: Artus and Ela-Shan have opened the gates for the invaders, and come to blows against Ukafa. Artus pleads with Ukafa to reconsider, but the warrior's sense of honour compels him to fight. However, Cheren enters the fray, and Ukafa must choose where his loyalties lie. After a great duel, Ukafa slays Cheren to prevent the death of his brother, though is mortally slain by Cheren's vengeful archers. The corsairs, seeing Ukafa fall, immediately turn on their former Turanian allies. With the defending forces in disarray, the Hyrkanians and Hyperboreans swarm into the city.
Akhun has Tamara in a vice-like grip. Khalar looks like he's about to finish Conan off, until Tamara taunts him. Khalar's pride overrides his common sense, and he turns from Conan to confront her. He tells Akhun to deal with Conan: Akhun drops Tamara, and stalks towards Conan. All the while, Tamara has been inching her hand to Akhun's scabbard: she skilfully unsheathes the sword without Akhun's awareness. Akhun arrogantly kicks and beats Conan, while Khalar toys with Tamara. When Akhun reaches for his sword, he realizes Tamara's plan, and calls out to warn Khalar. With the millisecond of Khalar's distraction all Tamara needs, she hurls the sword full into Khalar's chest. Thinking fast, Conan uses the distraction to summon his last ounce of strength, and smites Akhun with all his strength, paralysing him. Khalar, clawing madly at the sword, glares defiantly at Tamara, who charges at the wizard, and sends him hurtling backwards into the abyss.
The room rocks, as the assault from the Hyperborean trebuchets starts to bring down the citadel. Conan and Tamara free Ilira from her chains and flee from the crumbling chaos, as the Horror screams hideously and its tentacles flail wildly. Akhun is powerless to act, his eyes staring in stark terror. Fade to black as debris and destruction rain down...
Epilogue
As smoke and fire rise from the streets of Khor Khala, the screams of the dying and shouts of the victorious roaring in the distance, Tamara sits contemplative on the ruins. They discuss their future: Tamara has no love for civilization, having seen the cruelty of Hyperborea and Khor Khala firsthand. She seeks to go back to Cimmeria, where men are honest and life hard but worthy. Conan, however, has a different plan: he has to believe that the Hyborian Kingdoms have more to offer than he's seen in Hyperborea and Khor Khala, and plans to go to them for himself. Tamara notes that Brythunia's in the rough direction she's going, so they resolve to travel together for a little longer.
Dramatis Personae
Conan
Conan is, hopefully, a bit less the product of revenge. Unfortunately, the fact that he's effectively chasing after Tamara might give the unfortunate impression that he's a supporting character in his own film.
Tamara
I've basically turned her from faux-action girl into real action girl, in the vein of Red Sonya or Dark Agnes. Comparisons to Lady Vengeance/Kill Bill are probably inevitable, but I care not. She'd more closely resemble the near-feral Pictish warrior Olga Kurylenko portrayed in Centurion than Scarlett from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
Khalar Shah
Drop the Zym. I've made Khalar a severely displaced Acheronian: his ancestors went to what would become Vendhya, where they planned to join with the People of the Black Circle, but they ended up scattered by the invading Ghuli into isolated communities in the hills, as their compatriots did in Aquilonia. His people had all but forgotten their dark heritage (explaining the Vendhyan/Iranistani name), but he always had a talent for dark magic, as well as being a formidable fighter. Like Khemsa, he became an acolyte of the Black Circle, but learning of his true origins, he decided to strike out on his own, and after a while of wandering, mercenary work and employ in imperial armies, he sought to forge a new empire of his own making. I'm unsure how much of this will actually get into the film - might end up being that supplementary material I hate so much - but it would help explain Khalar a bit more.
Corin
Not a big fan of "Corin" as a name, being as it seems to be inspired by the latin Quirinus. Still, far preferable to something like Mordec. I've also made him less of a Cimmerian Mr MiYoda. That said, Ron Perlman is so damn old-looking in the material we've seen, I'm half tempted to just cast him as Conan's grandfather, and have one of the other Cimmerians play his dad. Maybe Ray the Dead Barbarian.
Marique
Change the name to something closer to Khalar (Indo-European), or an Acheronian (Greekish) sounding name. She's... not that great, though perhaps "proto-Goth Rocker" isn't the best way to describe her. I'm deliberating over whether to make her "sexy-evil" like Salome of "A Witch Shall Be Born," or make her more like Atla of "Worms of the Earth."
Ilira
Ilira is not a "Queen of Acheron", but she is part of the pure bloodline of nobles of that eldritch nation. However, though she was raised in the history of Acheron, she wanted no part of it. She is an exceedingly minor part in the film, but I wanted to keep her in it as a MacGuffin.
Akhun
I'd like to promote this character into the role of "Bad Guy's Enforcer" over Ukafa, since I've had enough of Conan fighting a black dude in movies. Luckily, Nathan Jones isn't too bad an actor for this sort of role, and he'd certainly make a formidable opponent. The question is what to make him? A Vanir or Aesir are too similar to Thorgrimm and Rexor. I'd replace him with a Hyperborean, personally, since Conan's early life is marked by a hatred of them, and it would be fortuitous to tie it in with the film's plot.
Ukafa
While I hate the character, I resolved to keep as much of the film as possible. However, I wanted to add a bit more intrigue, so I decided to make Ukafa and Artus brothers. Having two black dudes so far north seemed to stretch credulity: to have them relatives at least gives some excuse for there to be two or more.
Remo
Change the name to something Zamorian. Remo can be a Zamorian master-assassin, possibly using magic, or at least Nabonidus-esque science, to assist his work. He'd be a much tougher opponent for Conan than the shadow-scout version.
Fassir
Replace with a more Shemite name. Fassir is now another of Khalar's lieutenants.
Lucius
The only character in the script that could work: just make him less obviously Roman in attire.
Ela-Shan
I decided to use him as a tie-in to Conan's first civilized wanderings in Brythunia, so he serves a purpose beyond just helping Conan and Tamara out.
Artus
I'd replace the name with something more in line with Ukafa, obviously. I think having a displaced Black Corsair as the captain of a Red Brotherhood ship would nicely allay the "Conan always fights black people" nonsense. Conan already has black friends in Sakumbe, Ajonga, Yasunga, Laranga, N'Gora and N'Yaga (not to mention Juba and Zula in the pastiches) so it would be nice to reflect that in the film.
Cheren
Cheren will be a Turanian type, though obviously with a more Turanian name. Since next to nothing is known about her, I'm going to make her a sort of "sympathetic villain," in that she isn't really a bad guy, she's just on the wrong side.
Islene
I have my own ideas on what Conan's mother's name would be, but as Deuce said, Aislinn or Eileen are pretty close to Islene. Unlike this script, Conan the Barbarian and countless others, Conan's mother doesn't die in his. I'm sick of the "one parent" syndrome.
An interesting aspect I'd really like to try for the film is to make Conan's mother naked. There's a line in an early draft of "Black Colossus" which displays Cimmerian women in a rather stark light:
Amalric, delving into the scenes of a turbulent life, recalled a desperate battle on the northern frontier, and wild figures rushing into the melee – tall, supple women, stark naked, their black hair streaming, their eyes blazing, swords dripping redly in their hands. He shook his head.
But if that's impossible, ah well. I just think there's something really powerful and primitive about the visual of a naked, pregnant, bloodstained woman: all the primal aspects of the Earth Mother Goddess, Protector and Attacker, Creator and Destroyer, all that jazz.
Vanir Marauder
I'm tempted to have a sort of echo of the opening moment of "The Frost Giant's Daughter" with the marauder and Conan's mother do a variation on the banter between Conan and Heimdul, though that might be too much. In any case, the guy would be huge, but he wouldn't kill Conan's mother.
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This treatment makes a lot of interpretations of Howard and Conan that I don't necessarily agree with. For instance, it turns Conan's choice to leave Cimmeria from simple wanderlust into chasing a girl with the "Kill Bill" style vengeance, which is a simplification of Conan's motivations. It also has Khalar implicit in Venarium, diluting the irony of Conan assaulting the very people he would one day rule, as well as added a rather unnecessary personal aspect to the endeavour. I'm not a fan of many of the characters, but I've endeavoured to include as many as possible, with suitable alterations.
Now, there are many elements of the story which are, unfortunately, pretty integral to how the script goes: the revenge element, Riddle of Steel 2.0, Khalar etc, and I really doubt Doppenheimer would be happy with taking them out. Obviously there are tons of Hyborian tidbits I'd change that one would know upon viewing of said script, but again, that'd be too specific.
Overall, outside things like sadism, post-modern incongruity, dialogue and plotting, there is a slim - sliiim - possibility of turning this into a Conan film. Not a Robert E. Howard film, but maybe - just maybe - a Conan film that wouldn't look too bad next to Conan the Adventurer or the De Matteis comics.
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