In 1971, King was getting $60 bucks a week working at an industrial laundry and $6400 a year as an English teacher. All that changed when Tabitha pulled a few of his discarded pages from a trash can and told her husband that this might actually be something good. Following Tabitha's good advice, King continued with this novel eventually titled Carrie. After the book deal came a Brian DePalma film adaptation in 1976 and the rest is history.Which brings me to the L.A.M.BLOG_A_THON at the Large Association of Movie Blogs which has asked folks to come up with who they're thankful for in the movie industry. Point of fact- Stephen King is an icon and movies based on his works like The Shining and The Shawshank Redemption are some of the greatest films in cinema history.
Unfortunately, King's films are slammed as often (if not more) than they're praised. Films like Maximum Overdrive and Graveyard Shift haven't exactly boosted his cinema cred. But, even Spielberg made Hook and Francis Ford Coppola directed the singularly horrible .Jack....yet we are able forgive them and look past their periodic failures.
What other writer can you think of that can even compare to King when you consider his writing is behind these films: The Shining, Misery, The Shawshank Redemption, Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone, Stand by Me, Storm of the Century, Creepshow, Pet Sematary, The Green Mile, Apt Pupil, and Carrie.
I think you get the point - Stephen King is great. Now, let's move in into more typical retrospace territory with a Stephen King top ten list in no particular order. Here is my top ten reasons to love Stephen King in spite of Maximum Overdrive.
1. "Candida" is his 15th favorite song
Stephen King listed his top twenty songs for Entertainment Weekly here. King earns retrospace props for having the balls to list the fantastic "Candida" by Tony Orlando and Dawn at #15. That's my boy! (What did he put at #1 you ask? Answer:"Tube Snake Boogie" by ZZ Top - go figure)
2. This cool photo
This picture was snapped by a UMO student for the college newspaper The Maine Campus.
3. This quote: "If I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud."
4. King has admitted to being coked and drunk out of his mind during the production of Maximum Overdrive, so he cannot be held fully liable.
5. King wrote an episode of The X-Files called "Bunghoney" (sadly, it was changed to "Chinga").
6. King bought the minivan that hit and crippled him for $1,500 in order to destroy it with a sledgehammer.
7. King said this about legalizing it: "I think that marijuana should not only be legal, I think it should be a cottage industry. It would be wonderful for the state of Maine. There's some pretty good homegrown dope. I'm sure it would be even better if you could grow it with fertilizers and have greenhouses."
8. He has repeatedly said his favorite horror movie is Tourist Trap starring Chuck Conners and Tanya Roberts. Hell, yes.
Unfortunately, King's films are slammed as often (if not more) than they're praised. Films like Maximum Overdrive and Graveyard Shift haven't exactly boosted his cinema cred. But, even Spielberg made Hook and Francis Ford Coppola directed the singularly horrible .Jack....yet we are able forgive them and look past their periodic failures.
What other writer can you think of that can even compare to King when you consider his writing is behind these films: The Shining, Misery, The Shawshank Redemption, Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone, Stand by Me, Storm of the Century, Creepshow, Pet Sematary, The Green Mile, Apt Pupil, and Carrie.
I think you get the point - Stephen King is great. Now, let's move in into more typical retrospace territory with a Stephen King top ten list in no particular order. Here is my top ten reasons to love Stephen King in spite of Maximum Overdrive.
1. "Candida" is his 15th favorite song
Stephen King listed his top twenty songs for Entertainment Weekly here. King earns retrospace props for having the balls to list the fantastic "Candida" by Tony Orlando and Dawn at #15. That's my boy! (What did he put at #1 you ask? Answer:"Tube Snake Boogie" by ZZ Top - go figure)
2. This cool photo
This picture was snapped by a UMO student for the college newspaper The Maine Campus.
3. This quote: "If I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud."4. King has admitted to being coked and drunk out of his mind during the production of Maximum Overdrive, so he cannot be held fully liable.
5. King wrote an episode of The X-Files called "Bunghoney" (sadly, it was changed to "Chinga").
6. King bought the minivan that hit and crippled him for $1,500 in order to destroy it with a sledgehammer.7. King said this about legalizing it: "I think that marijuana should not only be legal, I think it should be a cottage industry. It would be wonderful for the state of Maine. There's some pretty good homegrown dope. I'm sure it would be even better if you could grow it with fertilizers and have greenhouses."
8. He has repeatedly said his favorite horror movie is Tourist Trap starring Chuck Conners and Tanya Roberts. Hell, yes.
9. Moth
Below is the cover for Moth, an off-campus publication issued while King was still a student at the University of Maine. It includes three poems by "Steve" King called "The Dark Man", "Donovan's Brain" and "Silence." The cover art, "Man Dropping a Bird" by Diane McPherson is striking.
10. The Clown in the SewerIs there a more disturbing and frightening image that you can possibly conceive of? If I saw a clown head in a storm drain, I think I'd go into full cardiac arrest and scream like Howard Dean coming in third in Iowa. Call me overly coulrophobic (look it up), but I know I'm not alone in this fear.
Yeah, I could've listed his many literary achievements, but I would have gotten bored and quit. I will say that Danse Macabre is the finest non fiction work on the horror genre that has ever been written. Anyway, it's estimated that King makes about $40 million per year on book sales alone. Maybe, if Mr. King reads this favorable post he sends a little token of his appreciation my way?.... I thought I'd try.
