The Writer's Life 7/20 -

What's to be said when a maniac breaks down an emergency door of a theater, hurls a smoke bomb, and opens fire on innocents? The political arguments will rage. The left will demand greater gun control, the right slacker so that an armed citizen might kill or severely wound such a murderer before fatalities climb. I'm in the right's corner, although I doubt an armed citizen would have prevented much, if any, of the deaths in that theater. Then again, who knows? But I do believe that stricter gun laws would result in more incidents like this one. What a blot on humankind. Columbine, now this - maybe there's something in the drinking water in Colorado.

I saw an interesting film last night, courtesy of Netflix. According to IMDb, Take Shelter (2011) had a budget of one million dollars and brought in just above that. A family man, 35, suffers nightmares. Is it the onset of the paranoid schizophrenia his mother began suffering at approximately the same age, or is it a premonition of a storm to end all storms? Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain turn in first-rate performances as husband and wife. TV stalwarts Kathy Baker and Lisa Gay Hamilton bring their talents to cameos. The pace of the film is slow and it's a tad too long, coming in at about two hours, but the story is absorbing. I think it would appeal especially to fans of M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs), whose career has been in a slide since it peaked with that great story about a little boy who sees dead people. Take Shelter was directed by Jeff Nichols, who has only three films under his belt. I'm interested in seeing more. On a scale of five, three-and-a-half. The folks at IMDb rated it 7.6 out of ten.

The floating book shop was rained out, making for a long day of busy work to fill the hours. I'm getting close to climbing the walls.

Visit Vic’s sites:
Vic’s Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic’s Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic’s Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic’s 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic’s 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic’s Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f