Things I've Learned From James Bond Movies

As opposed to things I've learned in 2008:

First the easy ones:

-Villains are bad shots, egomaniacs, and will explain their entire plan to you while trying to kill you slowly.

-A good quip to a woman behind a hotel desk, airport check in, or border patrol will cause her to lie to government officials. Even if she never met you.

-There will be an older gentleman who will tell you that the heroes and the villains are all mixed up and then show you the error of your ways.

-Anyone you get close to dies.

-Your boss will pretend to hate you, but really respect you, causing unfounded tension.

-Killing people always solves your problems.

-The clock never gets to zero.

-If you need help, don't go to a well trained person, he or she is a traitor. Instead find a beautiful woman. They are always scantily clad, not smart (depending on the decade), and will screw up the mission. But it will all work out.

-It is very easy to turn a lesbian.

-Only travel to exotic countries. That's where the villains go.

-Always save the world, always get the girl, rarely break a sweat or get bruised... unless it's the new millenium. In which case, save the world, the girl dies, and you get sweaty and bruised.

-There is no need to be neat if you dress snazzy, and are ready with a quip. In fact throwing things in a confident manner makes you cool.

Feel free to add more to the list.

What I Want

I want big books.

I want high emotions with small heartbreaking moments.

I want explosions, car chases, and the ticking clock.

I want to be on the edge of my seat the entire time I'm reading.

I want the hero to be down nearly all the book only to stand up One. More. Time.

I want to forget that you're writing a series and throw it all against the wall.

I want to say "Oh my God" every time I turn the page.

I want the writer to NOT BACK DOWN.

I want the characters to go through hell.

I want them to fall from the highest heights.

I don't want small time.

I want believable, but I also want over the top.

I want to keep turning the pages, not put the book down, and not be bored.

Give me a great story.

Give me a big story.

I want to say Wow.

Dave White As a Teen: High School Vocabulary

Back in high school, I was a complete geek. And now I'm going to show why. It's the new feature, Dave White as a Teen.

First comes the vocabulary my friends and I spoke in during the mid to late 90s. The first word I'm going to introduce you to is "Snuff." It's a verb... mostly.

My friend and I were looking at old Yankees players in a book he had at one point. The book named a player: Snuffy Stirnweiss who, if I remember correctly, mostly played for the Yankees during World War II. We thought the name was funny. And suddenly we started using it.

Any time some one made a mistake, they got "snuffed." If you embarassed yourself, you got snuffed. We even had a hand motion, to signify the "snuffing" when you were supposed to be quiet... like during class.

The hand motion grew out of our band director, who had hand signals for all the songs we were supposed to play. (Yes, I was in the marching band. What?) Our hand signal looke something like this: Make a fist. Then extend your pinky. Wiggle it. That's the international signal for "You've been snuffed."

It actually caught on in the band enough that our band director yelled at one of our friends for messing up a marching move. When the friend went to argue, the director just lifted his pinky and wiggled it.

It was a monumental moment in the life of this young man. We had influence.

Of course, at the same time, I once used it in class toward a kid who wasn't in the band. He just started laughing and said "What the hell is that? Lame."

I'm thinking about bringing it back, the snuffed thing. It's kitchy. Funny, old, outdated, yet in need of a reboot.

What odd phrases did you use in high school?

NEXT UP for this feature: MUNITZ.

College Basketball History

Over the next week, the Rutgers Men's Basketball team is going to make history.

Not because of anything positive. Not because of anything amazing statwise.

Nope, it will be because of the schedule:

Tomorrow night they are @ #1 UNC.

Wednesday afternoon home for #3 Pittsburgh.

Saturday night #2 UConn.

That's right, they're playing the numbers 1,2, and 3 team in a calender week.

And we are going to get shellacked. You hope they come out and play with heart, play smart and stay close. But with two of these games on the road (where RU is actually 3-0) this season, they don't really have a shot.

But what I hope is the team sees the way these opponents play, and they learn something. Recently, the team--which has had some unfortunate losses to bad team--has started to gel a little bit, as each team is learning their role. RU is young with the nation's number 5 leading freshman scorer, Mike Rosario, and the nation's number 1 freshman rebounder in Greg Echenique.

Again, keep an eye out. Hope they play hard. And hope they learn.

Here is Adam Zagoria on the schedule: Rutgers Facing Tough
Test.

And the New York Times: Rutgers Gets Ready for a Week vs. the Best.

I'm attending the Pitt and UConn games.

A Very Jersey Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

The New York Yankees Reaction

Mark Texiera.

AJ Burnett

CC Sabathia.

The Yankees went out and broke the bank. Then they repaired the bank, and then broke it again.

Signing those three players does a lot of things. Texiera improves the offense and the defense, which with the Yankees infield is very important. This kid played great D in the playoffs last year and I'm looking forward to watching it in the Bronx.

They got the best pitcher out there. CC is a true workhorse who can go the distance when the manager needs him to. He is a left and throws bullets. He can match up with anyone.

And they got a big game pitcher. AJ beat up on both the Yankees and Boston last year and I can't wait to see what he does against the Sox this year. These three players have the makings of being fun players to watch.

As for the money, I'm a Yankees fan. I long ago bought into the idea to not get too attached to players and to fall for the big money superstar. This doesn't bother me. It actually appears they're spending their money smartly. They're getting younger and they're filling holes.

But with these signings brings a lot of problems. First, there is a logjam in the OF. They have Swisher, Nady, Damon, Gardner, Melky, and Matui. Six guys for 3 positions. Four of which are corner guys. My hope is the Yankees trade Melky and Matusi, bring some prospects or a bullpen guy. Gardner goes CF, Damon in left and Nady in right. Swisher can DH or come off the bench. But Nady shows he's a clutch guy last year and he's young. Damon comes off the books this year. In fact, if they only trade Melky, Matsui can DH and Swisher can come off the bench. But there are a lot of rumors that they'll move Nady... I don't think that's the smartest move.

As for the players, Tex.... By all accounts, he's a big hitter, but he's not a clutch hitter. He could be A Rod part II. He'll get booed if he doesn't hit with runners on base in a big situation. He may help in other ways, but fans are going to look for the big moment. In fact, I was more hoping the Yankees trade Matsui and sign Manny for 3 years to DH. Because he's clutch.

CC can be a headcase. Look at last year's start at Cleveland. All he was thinking about was the big contract year coming up and he struggled mightily. I could see him getting booed, and having an NYC A Rod type year. He just can't get over the hump. That, or after all the innings from last season, his arm literally falls off.

AJ could get hurt. Or more likely will get hurt. In fact, I think he's the smallest risk of all 3 pitchers. As long as he's not hurt long term, he has the mentality who can fight through some struggles.

But this off season reminds me a lot of 1996. The Yankees brought in Doc Gooden, Kenny Rogers, Tino Martinez, Tim Raines, and Joe Girardi in the off season. They resigned David Cone, and Jimmy Key came off injury.

This season CC, AJ, Mark, Swisher (who could become a Brosius like fan favorite). Resigned Wang, who's coming back from injury. And most likely will resign Andy Pettite. But here's a wacky prediction.

The Yankees trade Matsui for prospects or bullpen help. The market for Manny plummets. And the Yankees sign him for one year with an option. (My predictions are never right, but look for the Yankees to make a trade for a power clutch hitter at some point this season--Vernon Wells?? [Yes, yes, I know he's in division. Just the first name that came to mind]).

Right now the Yankees are better. They're probably a playoff team. Maybe even a division winning team. But I'm not sure if they're a World Series Champion yet.

But if they get Manny... they win it all.

Best of 2008: Books

Real quick:

THE DAWN PATROL by Don Winslow: Old school PI novel with a neat twist and great Winslow voice. I read the last 150 pages of this in one night. I never do that.

THE GIVEN DAY: I loved it. The Babe Ruth prologue is the best baseball short story I've read in years. And the rest of the book really flies.

NO TIME FOR GOODBYE: Linwood Barclay really pulls out all the stops in this Harlan Coben style thriller.

New Year, New Slogan

If you follow this blog, you'll know that my friend Brian likes to come up with a slogan for each year. It's been going on for a few years now. There are such memorable ones as:

2007: Dave Wins

and

2008: Full Circle.

Well it's time again. And as usual, they never make sense until the year is over (both '07 and '08 make sense now)

Here it is:

drum roll,

2009: The Deal

Last Minute Gift Ideas

It's December 21st... FOUR DAYS from the BIG DAY... and you're giftless so what do you do?

Well, of course you can go out and pick up my novels, easily ordered using the side bar that way -------------------------------------------------------------->

Or, you can pick up the Killer Year Anthology, which comes out in paperback this Tuesday. And is already out in the UK.

But... if you haven't bought books for Christmas (WHY NOT?) and you're not going to (WHY NOT???), here are some other great ideas.

--The Snuggie, quite possibly the greatest gift in the history of mankind. A blanket! WITH SLEEVES!!!



--The HD Vision wraparounds. You thought you could see well now? FEH!



--Or anything by Billy Mays. Why did I post this? Because he's always yelling at me, and I want him to yell at you too.



Anyway, hope you're all enjoying the holdiay season! More best of to come soon!

The Truth About Rutgers Football

From today's STAR LEDGER.

Best of 2008: Movies

And so time ticks on, as we stare at flickers of light on the screen... movie magic...

In no particular order:

THE DARK KNIGHT: Watched this movie again the other night, and though it's flawed, it holds up. Very little could be cut from the 2 and half hours... Heath carries it and the stakes go through the roof. Batman to another darker level. Just a great movie going experience.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE: I firmly believe this movie will hold up on further viewings. I'm loving the idea of bringing a more realistic Bond to the screen and Quantum keeps that up. It has some great Bond moments and real grit.

IRON MAN: Robert Downey, Jr carries this flick. Some great action, and a really good comic movie brought to life.

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL: Best comedy of the year. I just reviewed it last month.

And, to keep in the movie spirit:

SantaCon

Just wanted to make sure readers got a report from someone who enjoys SantaCon... Unlike someone else I know...Someone who's very likely to get coal in his stocking.

The highlight was definitely the march through Macy's... chanting ho ho ho!

I'm ticked off

And here's why:

Robert E. Mulcahy, the athletic director at Rutgers University for the past decade, was fired Wednesday afternoon amid revelations of unchecked spending and secret deals.

The firing comes three weeks after a special review committee issued a sharp rebuke to Rutgers for allowing the athletics department to operate without oversight -- answerable to no one -- in the drive to bring big-time college football to the state university.

Rutgers president Richard L. McCormick told the school's board of governors and trustees in an e-mail Wednesday evening that he has asked Mulcahy to leave his position by the end of the year.

"Recent events have convinced me, with reluctance, that this is the right course of action," McCormick said in the e-mail.

Mulcahy issued a one-sentence statement later Wednesday night making it clear the decision to leave was not his own.

"I was asked to resign," he said in the statement. "I have not offered my resignation."

Bunch a crap.

New Jersey, The Promised Land: Exits

This is a very special, New Jersey the Promised Land, brought to you by Jan Brogan author of the just released Teaser. And just so you don't think I'm wussing out on this, I'll share my thoughts after hers.

"What I like about New Jersey is that everyone can easily peg you by your exit number. I went to France , and told some guy I was from New Jersey , and he said, “What exit?” I said, “153 b.” He squinted his eyes in that squinty French way, and appeared to know EXACTLY what that meant. Northern New Jersey . The extremely densely populated part. I was from the mean streets. Or maybe just the not-so-nice streets. Let’s just call just call them the crowded streets of Clifton, where people only sometimes wave and let you make a left hand turn.

Not like Idaho , which probably doesn’t even have a parkway or at turnpike. Just a lot of state highways, where no one even bothers to collect a toll. Why would they?? People only drive by, like, once every hour."

Yeah, seriously Idaho (#12), who do you think you are, with your corn and your flat lands. You're not like New Jersey where we are organized clearly. Everyone has a number and knows where they are going by that number. It is easy to play the "Where are you from?" game in NJ because you just say 154 or 16W, and everyone knows. The exits may get flack from people, but seriously, it's New Jersey. Exits are awesome.--Dave

Okay for a special added bonus, here's the trailer for TEASER:

Live Blogging: Leverage

DVRed the premiere of this, and am watching it now... so I'll check it out.

6:06: If you're going to use the title card to introduce a character, why then have another character give a lot of exposition about that character?

6:07: When that guy said, "I want you to steal them... back." He totally thought he was going to get some dramatic music backing up his conversation. Alas, all he got was dead silence.

6:08: Number of times "steal them back" has been said so far? 2. Guy who's hiring the thieves talks with dramatic pauses like Caruso and Shatner. Yet, who is this guy? No reason to act like that.

6:09: "Steal them backs" 2, dramatic pauses 3, "brah"s 2

6:10: Clever use of the title card. Elliot Spencer seems cool. But silly cool.

6:12: Take that back. Elliot Spencer is not cool... but instead has a silly rasp. The female character being named Parker--and just Parker--is a neat little head nod.

6:15: "They're doing their walkthrough an hour early!" Wait something might go wrong!? No way.

6:16: So far, Timothy Hutton has the easiest job in the history of mankind in this show. Just talk on the phone. Oh and Elliot Spencer is supposed to be quick. And tough. To me, he just sounds raspy.

6:19: Oh come on, really? Putting on face make-up in the elevator? REALLY? I don't buy it.

6:21: Oooh, dramatic pause guy is back. So, our count is now... 4 dramatic pauses. And me suspisious. You never want to go anywhere abandoned to meet someone if you're a thief.

6:23: It is clear the soundtrack to this show was done on the Casio keyboard I got for Christmas in 6th grade.

6:24: Nitpicking? Me? If local Clifton cops don't use ink for fingerprints anymore, then Chicago PD definitely doesn't. Timothy Hutton's "Me with the plan" quote is going to give the other quotes a run for their money.

6:26: Really raspy voice guy is also "I can make up any accent" guy... HA!

6:31: Hey it's that chick from Coupling! And okay, this show is... over the top silly... which I don't think is how they promoed it. Can we get a seriously hard boiled crime show on basic cable please? (The Shield, yes I know. I just missed out on that series.)

6:35: The chick from Coupling's voice just went British, then southern, and now African. "Sophie Devereaux is the finest actress you've ever seen. When she's breaking the law." Does that mean she's a shoe in for an Emmy because she's got to act on the show? But if she's acting on the show, then is she breaking the law? So is she the finest actress I've ever seen or.... BOOOM. Brain just exploded.

6:37: Okay, so every actor or actress on this show can do a southern accent. WE GET IT.

6:38: Exterior Chicago shot... I'VE BEEN THERE! I'VE BEEN THERE!

6:41: THERE WAS A COMMERCIAL IN SOMETHING I WAS PROMISED WAS COMMERCIAL FREE! RIP OFF! I don't care if it was a commercial for the show itself. And now we get some faux dialogue psychiatry. It's just a pilot, just a pilot..it's allowed to be bad if it shows potential. Everyone knows about Timothy Hutton's kid. Sheesh.

6:43: And BAM! There it is, we get some sexual tension.

6:44: HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA, of course you're not ready.

6:49: I don't even exactly know the scam here, I just now it's following a familiar formula. By the way, when she uses and American accent, the chick from Coupling sounds remarkably like Laura Lippman. A much better voice twin that Duane's suggestion that I sound like Paul Giamatti.

6:50: Five dramatic pauses from dramatic pause guy.

6:51 Prediction, even though dramatic pause guy knows about our band of thieves, I bet the band of thieves is one step ahead of him, pulling the suspense rug out from under our legs.

6:54: Oh, ho those wacky thieves manage to succeed and embarrass Dramatic Pause guy.

6:55: Why don't we call this Ocean's Five? I mean it's even told the same way. Is this show going to be able to find it's own voice?

6:56: And there are the thieves in slow motion, smug smiles on their faces. They won! I am surprised. And devoid of all suspense. And this show doesn't have enough voice or character YET to be able to move beyond the suspense flaw.

7:02: Wow, Timothy Hutton's final speech out does all of Dramatic Pause guys dramatic pauses.

Dave White Revises--Process and production

Someone on Facebook asked me to post about my revision process, so I thought I'd do that today, since I'm in the midst of revising my latest opus.

My process varies from piece to piece, but there are usually a few constants:

-I always figure stuff out halfway through the original draft that forces me to go back and tweak things early in the novel. This book was no exception. I don't wait until I'm done with the draft to fix them, I usually take a day just to go back and fix it so I can move forward. So when I'm done with my first draft, a lot of times it's actually draft 1.5.

-Once I'm done with the draft, I need to wait at least a week or so before digging back into it, no matter what my brain says--this book I gave 3 weeks. I need to roll over pieces of the novel in my head and figure out what major scenes are wrong. With this piece I pinpointed about four sections that needed a lot of work, and reshuffling. I was confident I could make the book better just by moving those four sections around of re-writing the scenes a bit. That's what I tackled first.

-Someone needs to read draft 1.5 and comment on it. Even when I give it time I can't always see the forest through the trees. I like moments and it's hard for me to cut or re-write them. This time it was Sarah Weinman, who gave me some great broad strokes to fix regarding character and pacing. I think I've fixed them. We'll see.

-Someone else needs to read draft 2. I have a lot of trouble seeing the forest through the trees still. I second guess a lot of what I do. I want to take it out, I want to put it back in. I wrote a new 2nd chapter, then deleted it. I still may go back and write it, I'm not sure. This time it was my dad, who's basically line editing and giving me major specific plot points to fix. It seems most of the book holds together, but I am going to have to twist and touch on some character developments. This book seems very likely to be extended rather than shortened, though I do expect to cut a few scenes entirely at some point.

-Send to agent/editor. Another read through. I think THE EVIL THAT MEN DO and WHEN ONE MAN DIES went through 7 drafts each, not including line editing. I'm only on draft 3 with this one. I'm sure there will still be moments where I head slap.

Basically, I'm still learning how to revise. I have to/want to figure out how to revise on my own. I'm doing a better job of it on this one than the previous two novels. In books 1 and 2, I couldn't even come up with more than 2 parts that needed tweaking, and needed a lot of revisional guidance--which is why I give so much credit to Sarah, Al, and my editors. They do a lot of hard work and make it a lot easier for me.

I do think I'm getting better, though. I'll still need read throughs, but I think I'll have to make less and less changes each time.

Rutgers Football Season, the Best Kind of Thriller

Last night Rutgers University beat Louisville 63-14 to finish their season 7-5 and prepare themselves for a bowl game.

Oh, I know, you're all sighing. "Another Rutgers post, Dave? Really?" No, wait, hear me out.

Because Rutgers football this year followed the formula for my favorite kind of thrillers. The everyman gets knocked down again, and again and then gets back up.

Let's look at it.

Rutgers started their season 1-5. They were beaten to a pulp in some of their games, including, a rout by UNC on September 11th aired on ESPN. I mean it was a beginning where all you're doing is cringing shouting to get out of there. But you keep turning the pages, hoping the hero (RU) turns it around, but knowing most likely they won't.

There were the heartbreaking moments of Navy, WVU, and Cincy--losing by a touchdown or less. The hero needs that one little break and can't get it. They're down and out. Why even bother continuing?

And then you get the little break. You beat UConn 12-10 because the bad guys hit the upright on a last minute field goal attempt.

And then all of a sudden things start to change. The hero gets up (and this, is my favorite part.). The hero gets off the floor. You beat Pitt handily. Then Syracuse. 3-5. What's going on here?

Then you beat a decent USF and now you know the hero's going to win. Army. Feh no problem.

And then last night's game. Which sets up the heros climax.

We don't know what that's going be yet, as Rutgers fans. The bowl game. If we're going to follow the forumula, the climax should be huge. There are a lot of rumors that we're going to Detroit to play undefeated and nationally ranked Ball State.

That would be the perfect finale.

PLUS: JOVI KID!!

Since I haven't talked about Plax

I'll let someone wiser do it.

Best of 2008: Music

I think I'm going to start this a bit early, because as far as I know, there aren't any albums I'm really looking forward to coming out soon. So we'll start with my favorite albums of 2008. In no particular order:

HONORABLE MENTION: The Raconteurs Consolers of the Lonely: A great bunch of singles that I wish I've listened to more because my iPod went down right when I uploaded the album and now it rests on my old computer. So, I like what I've heard, just haven't heard enough.

My Morning Jacket Evil Urges: This album had my bopping my feet. It has the feel of an old 70s rock album, which I love. Some of the songs are full of soul, some are full of bounciness. Overall it's just good. The song "Thank You Too!" followed by "Sec Walkin'" are just odd and fun.

Counting Crows Saturday Nights and Saturday Mornings: This album really gets off to a rousing start with "1492" and continues to pulse it's way through the entire first half of the album with all the Saturday Night stuff, and then slows way down for Sunday Mornings, but is still really compelling. The final song, "Come Around" may be my favorite CC song ever.

The Hold Steady Stay Positive: This is the Brooklyn based band that makes my brother want to "stab babies." He said it, not me. I, in fact, love this band and think they have a hell of a way with lyrics. The first two songs off the album are the most quotable, but the whole thing plain rocks. Great album.

The Gaslight Anthem The 59 Sound: I love this band and found them completely by accident. Was going through some albums my brother had on his iTunes that he hadn't played. Started listening to this and was just hooked. They have a song called "Film Noir." Out of Jackson Donne's home, New Brunswick, NJ, they are a cross between a punk band and Springsteen and they are fantastic. I can't recommend them more than I have. Go get this album now!!