dianeduane's blog
On E4 (UK) this Christmas weekend: Sword of Xanten (aka Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King)
Submitted by dianeduane on Fri, 12/25/2009 - 11:55
For those of you on the European side of the water who haven’t seen it as yet: the E4 channel in the UK is showing, on Christmas Day and Boxing Day / St. Stephen's Day, our 2004 miniseries Sword of Xanten (this being the goofy name that co-production partner Channel 4, like a terminally confused fairy godmother, wished on The Ring / Curse of the Ring / Die Nibelungen / Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King).
Kristanna Loken is absolutely worth watching in this as Queen Brunnhild. And there is, of course, the story: a somewhat-reworked but not too damaged version of the great German epic poem the Nibelungenlied. (The trouble with the Ring mythos is picking and choosing which bits you’re going to keep and which you’re not. Our producers chose to avoid the Wagnerian additions to the story, hewing closer to the storyline as set out in the poem; though we also drew on the Eddaic sources for some pieces of business.)
We had fun writing this. If you have time, pop a beverage and sit back and watch Brunnhild whale on Siegfried with that spear. (And chuck poor King Gunter out of bed before the real trouble starts.) Watch the fantasy-film debut of a young actor named Robert Pattinson (playing King Siegfried's young brother Giselher). Watch the dragon engage in mortal battle with Bennu Fürmann’s wig. (Those wigs never worked on the poor man.) And watch South Africa look really amazingly like the Rhine valley…
Check the E4 program schedule pages for details. Part 1 airs on Friday, December 25, 2009 at 10:15 AM (repeating on E4+1 an hour later). Part 2 airs on Saturday, December 26 at 12:10 on E4, 1:10 on E4+1.
Kristanna Loken as Queen Brunnhild fights Benno Fürmann as King Siegfried
in Sword of Xanten
I love this cover
Submitted by dianeduane on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 07:57
Just got my author's copy yesterday. The anthology features stories about about a suburban U.S. high school catering to young wizards and witches, and my story "The House" bats cleanup in the volume (always a fun position to be in):
She lay face down on her bed, clutching her pillow over the back of her head, and moaned, “It’s useless. Useless!”
In the hallway outside her bedroom, Brianna’s mom had the linen closet open and was stacking sheets in it: Bri could smell the lavender water from here as her mom sprayed it onto layer after layer. And for the moment, the light clean scent infuriated her. Her mother’s compulsive housewifeliness didn’t usually bother Brianna so much except at moments like this, when the world was ending, and how nice the sheets smelled wasn’t even slightly germane.
“Sweetie,” her mom said, “maybe you should just wait a few days and ask him again.”
“It wouldn’t help,” Brianna muttered. “He’d just get the idea I really wanted to do this project with him.”
“Yes, but you do really want to do this project with him.”
“That’s not the point!!...”
This morning's chuckle from Google Labs: Help Stop Drunken Emails
Submitted by dianeduane on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 09:19Fortunately for me, when I’m plastered I routinely lose the ability to type — at least without committing so many typos that I simply give up on the project until the blood alcohol drops. So this isn’t for me.
But for those who have better motor skills even when inebriated, Google now introduces an app that (when enabled) slows you down with math before you send that late-night boozy message.
Fascinating…
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