Pennywise bobbleheads

Look what I found at a comic book store in Redlands, California titled, "The Quest Store."  An entire shelf dedicated to IT.

It Chapter 2 Trailer

YAHOO gives us: An Oral History of 'Stephen King's It'

This article from Yahoo is a great insight into the making of the mini-series, IT.  (www.yahoo.com/tv)

Ethan Altar writes in his introduction to a series of interviews, "Twenty-five years later, Stephen King’s It still has the power to push its way into your slumbering mind in the dead of night, filling it with nightmarish visions of fortune cookies stuffed with eyeballs, balloons filled with blood and clowns with razor-sharp teeth."

Well, unfortunately -- not really.  But I wish that's how it was, so let's pretend that's reality.  (The truth is, the second half of the film is terrible.)

The Participants (In Alphabetical Order)
Dennis Christopher (Eddie Kaspbrak)
Larry Cohen (Screenwriter)
Stephen King (Author)
Bart Mixon (Special Makeup Effects Supervisor)
Annette O’Toole (Beverly Marsh)
Emily Perkins (Young Beverly Marsh)
Tim Reid (Mike Hanlon)
Marlon Taylor (Young Mike Hanlon)
Tommy Lee Wallace (Director)
Gene Warren Jr. (Special Visual Effects Supervisor)

A few of my favorite insights:

• ABC was always nervous about It, primarily the fact that it was in the horror genre, but also the eight-to-ten hour commitment. They loved the piece, but lost their nerve in terms of how many hours they were willing to commit. Eventually, they were agreed to a two-night, four-hour commitment and at that point, a couple of things happened. 
• His script for Night 2 wasn’t nearly as successful, in my opinion. For reasons of his own, he had completely moved away from the plotting of the book, and created a much smaller story, a very interior melodrama focusing on Beverly’s husband as the ultimate bad guy, or something to that effect. (That explains a lot)
• Most of the adult casting was “telephone” casting, which is, “No need to audition so-and-so for the role, they’d be brilliant.“
• Casting the kids came after casting the adults.
• Obviously the piece of casting that worked the best in the show was Tim Curry as Pennywise. (King)
• The movie, really, is only as good as its villain, and Tim carved out a place for himself as one of the great movie villains of all time.
• Filmed over two to three months on location in Vancouver, It proved a demanding shoot

. . . a lot more interesting stuff here.  Check out the article.  You'll like it.

How Scary is IT?

The First Clown That Scared Me

Tim Curry as Pennywise entertained me.  In fact, I can see how he could have been scary.  But he didn't really scare me.

There is a clown that scared me -- big time.  That clown doll in Poltergeist is freaky.

So tell me, what movie or TV show has a clown that you think ranks up there with the scariest?  (Don't say Krusty the Clown)

is IT in California?

Rebecca Jacobson at pbs.org/newshour has posted an article titled, "Police arrest one of 20 clowns terrorizing county in California."  Jaconson's first lines include references to Stephen King.  

If the movies “It” and “Killer Clowns from Outer Space” gave you the heebie-jeebies, there’s another reason to be scared of clowns: An outbreak of clowns in the San Joaquin Valley are terrifying residents.

Great.  Evil killer Clown in California.   Jacobson reports on the arrest of what amounts to pranksters terorizing neighborhood children.

The recent creepy clown trend started on social media on October 1. Photos of an eerie clown posed carrying balloons in poorly lit streets of Wasco, California appeared online. The “Wasco clown” photos were taken by a husband and wife team and posted to an Instagram account as part of a year-long art project.

And now, Jacobson says, there are "armed-clown copycats."  This reminds me of something King's fiction often makes clear -- often the real monster is the people.  

Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark - Stephen King's IT

THEY ALL FLOAT

IT trailer

This is fun.  It has nothing to do with the IT remake coming up.

King Books Worthy Of A Return Visit

I read Gerald's Game a couple of times, but really have no desire to go back again and again.  In fact, many novels are a great read once.  Some books actually lose something on the second read.  The first time through a book, the writer has the ability to surprise the reader.  The second time, the reader is emotionally armed up.

There are a small handful of books that are worth returning to again and again.  No matter how many times I read these books, they maintain their magic.  In fact, I look forward to the little plot twists.

Sometimes rereading a book reminds me of the period of life I first read it in.  So reading the Stand takes me back to High School and those long days I sat in summer school reading the book as a teacher droned on.

These "favorite" books are ones I'm most likely to buy special editions of.

So here are a few King books I've read more times than I can count:

Joyland

This book is absolutely delightful!  I could really care less about the who done it part of the murder mystery, this story is all tone and setting.  We get a behind the scenes look at the old amuse park and a trip back to the 1970's.

King spares the reader the typical "who done it" -- even though that is a central part of the book. There is no running around, room to room trying to put clues together.

The novel focuses on first love -- and next love.  The love we find in the midst of a broken heart.  Can that love be trusted?  Is it real?  Can we really love when we're on the rebound?  This is actually a pretty complex emotional equation King sets up for a short book.  Kings skill at depicting relationships is superb.

Early on, man suggested that Joyland would be "vintage King."  I disagree.   Joyland is not like Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone or any other King novel.  It's stronger.  Much stronger.  The characters are deeper and the story is told with a depth of maturity King could not bring to earlier novels.  So it may have elements we saw in King's younger work, this is ultimately the work of a seasoned writer.

Favorite Scene: Mike's visit to the amusement park.

Favorite Character: Mike.

First read: 2013

check out my post about the real corpse in a theme park's house of horror: talkstephenking joyland journal

The Stand.  

I love the entire book and was so happy when it finally came out in audio.  Have read it both as the abridged version and unabridged.  Both are delightful.  There are lots of little sub stories that run through the book that are easily forgotten.  And, I could travel with Larry through that tunnel a hundred times and still be scared.

Favorite scene: I like the final scene in Las Vegas.  The hand of God reached down and took evil out.  That's pretty gutsy writing.

Favorite character: The Walkin' Dude.  Flagg.  I love it that King dared to give us evil personified. And he wasn't a seething dark monster oozing goop -- he was one cool dude.  Of course, if you made him unhappy, he had a few tricks up his sleeve to return the favor.

First read: High School.

Needful Things.  

It's been too long since I've read this book!  Time to come back.  I think Needful Things is not given enough credit as a strong, character driven book.

Favorite character: One complaint sometimes leveled against Needful Things is that it lacks likable characters.  There were certainly people I liked!  How about Sherif Pangborn and his girlfriend, Polly Chalmers.

The book worked, for me, because it was long and had lots of breathing room. King interwove the characters and moved the plot toward a final crescendo that I thought worked on behalf of the town.  The final scene with the Sherif being offered a video of his wife's death was goofy.

Favorite scene: When Wilma and Nettie go crazy and hack each other to death in the middle of the street.  Yuck.

First read: High School.

IT

This book is many people's all time favorite King book.  I like it a lot.  I think I would like it even more if I had grown up in the fifties.  The story is as a much about childhood and friendship as it is monsters.  But King isn't afraid to give us lots of monsters!

Favorite character: Eddie.

Favorite scene: There's so many!  I really like the part where Bev hears the dead children calling to her through the drain.  The book has plenty of scenes that don't work for me.  But the overall narrative and magic of the book simply overwhelms these troubling/dull passages.  I like scenes where the kids are running around town, going to the theater and shops in Derry.  King transports us to another time; not only the 1950's, but to our own childhood.

First read: High School.

11/22/63

The book is absolutely brilliant.  Never mind the awkward means of time travel.  Naturally, we all go to the 1950's via our pantry.  In fact, like IT, there is plenty that doesn't work in this book for me.  When King finally gets down to alternate history, his own mechanisms of time travel distort what might have been.  Because of the earthquakes and other things related to time travel, we never get a clear view of the stories promised theme -- what if Kennedy had lived?

But then, mid or late novel, I realized something; this isn't really about alternate timelines!  King plays with the "white if" for just a while, but the thrust of the novel is really a love story.  A LOVE STORY!

What is so powerful about the book is King's ability to take us back in time.  For people like me, who did not grow up in the late 50's and early 60's, it is a grand tour of a place I've never been.  King starts by giving us the good, and then slowly begins to uncover some of the deeper evils of the era as the novel progresses.

Favorite character: Sadie.  I'm sure I'm supposed to connect  more deeply with Jake Epping, but the guy makes so many bad decisions that it is difficult to actually like him.  There were many times I found myself  going, "really, dude?"  But Sadie is emotionally complex and real.  I didn't start out liking her, because she seemed like a distraction from the plot.  "Why this side stuff about a love story," I asked myself.  But she won me over.

Other favorite Character: TIME.  Yep, time.

King plows new ground in 11.22.63 with the concept of time itself being obdurate. 

What if time wasn't a thing, like a block of wood or even a machine -- what if it was alive?  What if time was insulted when people tried to change it?  And, the biggie -- what if it could fight back?  What if the time line itself was able to protect itself against time-travelers. 

Notice how the past is indeed alive as King writes, "the past is sly as well as obdurate. It fights back. And yes, maybe there was an element of greed involved, too."  Later in the novel, King says, "The past is obdurate for the same reason a turtle’s shell is obdurate: because the living flesh inside is tender and defenseless." (p. 827)  Time protects the people within its shell.

Sadie picks up on the theme and tries to relate to it but she uses the wrong word–malelevolent--instead of obdurate. She hasn't experienced the obdurates of the past the way Jake has!  It has beat him to a pulp!

Favorite scene: When the story passes through the IT narrative.

First Read: 2012

Non-King

1. The Pillars Of The Earth
2. Cold Sassy Tree
3. The Pelican Brief
4. The Grapes Of Wrath
5. The Martian Chronicles
6. Great Expectations
7. A Dangerous Fortune
8. Piercing The Darkness
9. 1984

What Stephen King books are you most likely to come back to?
What non-King books do you read again and again?

Tim Curry As Pennywise Is Scary

Is Pennywise In New York?

How  would you like to encounter this clown on the side of the road?  A pennywise-eque clown is making his rounds through New York's Staten Island.  What is the clown doing -- handing out balloons, of course.  Nothing harmful in that, right?  Well, as yahoo reports, people are actually pretty freaked out! (FULL STORY: yahoo.com/blogs)

The people who live in the New York City borough are not thrilled with their new addition. Robert Privtera, who took a picture of our friend, told the Advance, “Bro, I did a double take. My heart stopped." Vincent Innocente characterized it as bizarre. People are taking to Twitter and voicing their concern as well…

Pennywise has been making a lot of sightings lately, including on google maps and in England.

From my September 17, 2013 article:
PENNYWISE IS ALIVE:

Pennywise might have been chased off from Derry Maine, but he's not dead!  The evil clown has been making appearances throughout the United Kingdom borough of Northampton.

Shea Bennett of Media Bistro says, "Residents are, as you’d imagine, spooked, and you can understand why – imagine seeing this guy standing outside your window?"

Indeed, the clown has become so popular that a Facebook Page erected on Friday has already picked up more than 25,000 Likes, with the clown using Facebook to update fans, as well as fend off a few slightly sensationalised reports. 

As for why he’s doing all of this, that still remains unclear. But, as we can see from the photos, he has balloons. So, I guess the only question that really matters, is…

(Source: www.mediabistro.com)

Now. . . a question --  If you saw Pennywise,  would you pause to take a picture?  Well, I probably would.  But I don't think I'd have the courage to go up and say howdy.  Just for fear of hearing him say, "They float!"

And -- another question -- does anyone think the British Pennywise is perhaps a bit more, eh, scary than  the American versions?  I don't know why,  but I find that clown just flat out creepy.  And that's not to put down Curry's performance in the mini-series.  In fact, it's probably good Curry didn't look that scary, or I would have died watching it.

Books That Have Stayed With You

image: firewireblog.com

I like METACHAT's "Books That Have Stayed With You," as well as the many responses.  The discussion is framed this way, "Five books that have stayed with you.  They don't have to be best sellers or well known. Just books you read that for one reason or other you never forgot."

One person posted:
1. Watership Down.
2. Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry.
3. All of the James Herriot books (All Creatures Great and Small, etc.)
4. The Crimson Petal and The White. by Michael Faber
5. The Stand, by Stephen King.

Let's do the same thing, but make two lists.  First books in general, then just 5 King books that will stay with you.

Non-King list:
1. Pillars of the earth
2. Cold Sassy Tree
3. 1984
4. Great Expectations
5. The Martian Chronicles

Five Stephen King Books That Have Stayed With Me:
1. The Stand
2. IT
3. The Shining
4. 11.22.63
5. Dolores Claiborne

Pennywise At Work At The Bangor Library?

In article titled, "Stephen King’s scary library needs $9 million repair,"  Esmé E. Deprez at bangordailynews.com notes that the Library is one of Stephen King's favorite haunts -- literally and fictionally.

Fictionally: "Readers of Stephen King’s novel “It” know the Bangor Public Library as a hiding spot for the title character, a deranged clown on a murderous rampage. In real life, the library is falling apart."
Literally: "The Kings, who are both authors, met in the library at the University of Maine in Orono, just a few minutes up the road from the Victorian mansion they now own, according to his website. Both are avid users of the Bangor library, and Tabitha King served on its board for 12 years, McDade said. First editions of all of Stephen King’s titles are stored in the vault."

Pennywise On Google Maps !

Stephen King's facebook page posted this:

Pennywise on Google Maps.

The PENNYWISE Spider Found!

In Stephen King's novel IT, Pennywise the clown is actually a shape-shifting spider. Leon Watson at Mail Online has a very interesting article titled, "Now THIS is a creepy crawlie! Meet the bright green spider that looks just like the clown in Stephen King's horror film 'It'

Engineer Igor Rayabov has taken macro photo's of spiders nears his house. He discovered a bright green spider (belonging to the thomisidae family) that bears a startling resemblance to none other than Pennywise!

The article itself draws the conclusion for us, stating,

"Terrifying: The spider (left), which belongs to the thomisidae family, bears a startling resemblance to the clown in Stephen King's hit 1990 horror film It

The full article is at www.dailymail.co.uk

IT's a T-Shirt

So do you have your Stephen King gear?

How close do you really want to get  to Pennywise?  Really?  Or is that  Ronald. . .

Get your own at shirtoid.com

IT action figure

IT's a. . . a. . . It's a Pennywise action figure.  Just in case GI Joe can't take down Cobra, this clown can take care of business.  Wait. . . which side is he on?  WHO MADE A PENNYWISE ACTION FIGURE?  Rock on.

I found it on ebay HERE.  It's at $20 right now, if anyone wants to jump in.  My wife won't let me make this investment.

REPOST: King Books That Deserve A Sequel

With all the talk about a possible sequel to the Shining, and then all the quick moves to quiet any excitement -- not to mention an addition to the Dark Tower -- got me to thinking about books that deserve a sequel.

Of course, much of King's work has built on itself. There were the Castle Rock stories, Derry stories, and in some cases the Dark Tower actually served as a sequal. In particular Salem's Lot -- Which really serves as redemption for Father Callahan.

Sometimes Hollywood has offered us sequels. Children of the Corn, Salem's Lot, Pet Semetery, Carrie and others I can't think of off hand. None of these were really very good. There was a version of Carrie that had an extended ending (beyond the King book) that I thought was well done.

A quick list of books I wish had a sequel. Please offer your own.
1. The Eyes of the Dragon
2. Black House. ? I think there will be one.
3. The Shining. Dr. Sleep, as King has suggested, but not promised.  (2012, okay, we now  anxiously await the novel)
4. Firestarter. So. . . what did happen to Charlie?
5. Pet Semetary. King style, not Hollywood.
And. . .
6. IT. Did Pennywise really die? Really? Are you sure?

(Originally posted: November 26, 2009)

wouldn't IT be cool if

Photo credit HERE
Georgie McNuggets anyone?

With news of a new IT movie coming out -- in two installments -- I  decided to offer up some of my thoughts.  I offer these for free (FREE) to Hollywood.  You're so welcome!

1. There is no need to remake the entire IT movie.  IT was made as a mini-series, and half of it is pretty good!  How about this. . . just re-film the parts with the adults.  

2. There is no need to re-script the novel, the mini-series script did it justice.  It was special effects and some acting that made it. . . well, a little lame.  Not big time lame, no sir!  But just a little. . . not as cool as it could have been.  Can you use an old script?  I mean, why not?  It was actually pretty faithful to the book, and worked through some of the problems in an acceptable way.

3. Could we please have Tim Curry again?  Don't care if he's old now and has to do this with a cane -- he was awesome.  The scariest clown ever.

4. Don't forget 11.22.63.  Woldn't it be cool if the scene in 11.22.63, where Jack meets Bev and Richie, appeared in the IT movie?  I mean, that wold be beyond coolified.

5. Please keep  the years right!  There was talk of moving the past scenes up to the 80's, and then the scenes where  they are adults up to the present.  RESIST!  The stuff from the 50's was so cool!