6
A&E
WedNEsdAy, FebRUARy 20, 2002
The CI ac I îamas P rînt
’’Kissing in Manhattan”: dark and sexy
ERINNLERTEN
StaffWriter
aware priest
“How would you know the first
David Schickler’s debut novel,
thing about who I am, about what’s
choking me, about what I can or can
not endure?” While he is confronta
“Kissing In Manhattan,” offers what
at first appears to be a slick, hilarious
collection of romantic tales but soon
reveals its true dark, sexy and deeply
tional in voice, the reader’s heart still
goes out to Patrick, a man who can
only endure his life by the comfort he
receives from these things.
tender mood.
In a series of linked stories, Schickler
follows a group of young
undertone, some are more sharp-wit
ted and sly in their tone, without the
Manhattanites in their sometimes-
failed quests for love. The characters
dark tension of the more intense sto
ries but with the same intimacy. In
are diverse, yet they are all connected
by the dark gothic apartment building,
“Checkers and Donna,” Donna is a
real estate agent who wears “a suit and
important shoes” and agrees to go on
a blind date with Checkers.
the Preemption, which readers first dis
covered in the short story “The
Smoker” in The New Yorker. Various
characters also appear in seemingly in
nocuous situations, the significances
of which are revealed later.
Amongst his characters area smart
talking bad boy, a misunderstood ac
tor and an awkward schoolteacher
whose teenage student proposes mar
riage to him. The characters are com
plex in their lives and loves, yet he writes
Although all the stories carry a dark
Donna is somewhat jaded in her
outlook on love: “[She] felt mostly pity
for men... Their biceps and laughter
were ungodly strong, but, as far as
Donna could see, men never used the
full force of these 'strengths against
women. This was cowardice, Donna
felt. She wanted a man who would
crush himself into her—psychically,
sexually, utterly, daily — and never
them with a simple elegance that brings
them close to the reader.
The writing is cool yet full of emo
apologize.”
Donna may have found such a man
in Checkers, whose name has nothing
tion: “Rally McWilliams was pro
foundly lonely,” begins the title story.
“She wanted to believe that she had a
to do with the game and who opens a
door for Donna and shows her what
love can be, and what it doesn’t have
soul mate, a future spouse gestating
somewhere in Nepal or the Australian
Outback But in Manhattan, where
to be.
Charged with a deadly sense of hu
Rally lived, all she found were guys.”
As Rally’s story continues, she
meets Patrick Riggs, who escapes the
demons of his past by seducing and
tying up beautiful women until they
see their beauty as he does, while
keeping a gun close to his heart and
attending the services of an eerily
mor and wit, Schickler offers a daring
new vision with “Kissing in Manhat
tan.”
“With these wonderfully haunting,
strange, and hilarious stories, David
Schickler has established himself as a
major new voice in American fiction.”
—Ron Hansen, author of “Mariette in
Ecstasy” and “Hitler’s Niece.”
Screenwriters share experiences with
students and community at CCC
DAISY BAIN
A&E Editor
“Screenwriting:. The Art and The
Agony” was the topic for Authors’
Night last Wednesday in the Gregory
Forum, featuring two acclaimed screen
writers, Gill Dennis and Ebbe Roe
Smith.
The hour-and-half-long event
packed the house with an estimated
70 plus people, kicking the night off
with Dennis reading from his newly
finished screenplay “Cash.” Based on
the early days of Johnny Cash, it was
his amazement with Cash as a person.
“He would sing to you as other people
rate the humor as he read a scene where
the rotten man tries to feed the very
would speak to you. It was really beau
snobby kidnappee.
Some of Smith’s credits include
tiful.”
Dennis’ work includes an adapta
tion of A.L. Kennedy’s novel “So I
Am Glad” for Ed
Harris and Amy
Madigan. He
also wrote the
screenplay for
“Return to Oz,”
“Home Fries,”
and “On My
Own”
and
adapted the Zane
Gill Dennis
Screenwriter
Gray novel “Rid
ers of the Purple
Sage.”
Cash proposed to his girlfriend, and
she said no, over and over./ I
Dennis founded the Squaw Valley
Community of Writers along with au
According to Dennis, six to seven
days was spent in research talking to
Cash himself. He would ask him ques
thor Tom Rickman and is currently a
Filmmaker in Residence at the Ameri
fying moment that has ever happened
to you? The saddest or proudest?’
He also spent time with people who
knew Cash personally and read many
of his biographies.
“Nick of Time” and
“Falling Down,”
(featuring Michael
writers of America
are standing all
around me."
written for director James Mangold and
Columbia Pictures. The audience
laughed as Dennis read lines from when
tions such as, “What’s the most terri
“Sweet Smell ofSuccess,” “Power and
Gkxy,”‘TheScore,”“U.S. Marshalls,”
can Film Institute in Los Angeles.
Among his film directing credits in
clude “WithoutEvidence,”afilm about
the Michael Francke murder case.
Ebbe RoeSmith followed Dennis by
reading from his own comedy, “Spoiled
Rotten.” Again, the audience was
greatly entertained by this nationally
acclaimed actor, playwright and
An audience member asked Dennis
if Cash has read the script, and the
answer was no. “You could write
(about) anything Cash has done; he
was just worried about hurting oth
screenwriter. “Spoiled Rotten” is
about a very rich girl who is kidnapped
by a “rotten” and very dumb man.
ers,” said Dennis. He also expressed
Smith used his acting skills to elabo
■
■■■
Douglas and Robert
Duvall).
After both screen
writers read from
their own scripts,
they were bom
barded with ques
tions regarding how
to get started in the
business, how long
a typical screenplay
should be (according to Smith, about
111 pages is typical), or how do you
avoid long drawn out arguments while
working with a partner. Smith provided
a nutty answer to the latter question:
Rather than hash out an argument, he
would lay out his idea by saying this
simple phrase, ‘T have a potato idea.”
He says this is to prevent too many
apologies for ideas that are half-
baked.
As the night dwindled down,
Dennis summed up the evening by
saying, “I have a feeling that the fu
ture writers of America are standing
all around me.”
Across:
1. Why will school be cancelled Feb.28?
2. Last weeks holiday was_____ day?
3. July 23 - August 22.
Down:
1. Featured animation.
2. Major problem in Oregon.
3. In the Southern region, which place is the women's basket
ball team in?