For the past couple of weeks, Francis Ford Coppola has had a mystery site up without much information on it. Well, now the mystery is solved and it’s called Youth Without Youth:

American Zoetrope, Ltd. announces production of a new film by Francis Ford Coppola, YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH, starring Tim Roth, Alexandra Maria Lara, Bruno Ganz and Marcel Iures. The film is written, produced and directed by Coppola, marking his return to personal filmmaking. The screenplay is adapted from a novella by legendary Romanian author Mircea Eliade. Principal photography begins in Europe October 3.

YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH stars Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Rob Roy,) as Dominic Matei, a professor whose life changes after a cataclysmic incident during the dark years prior to World War 11. Becoming a fugitive, he is pursued through far-flung locations including Romania, Switzerland, Malta and India.

Sounds like this is going to be one helluva good movie. Oh, and make sure you read FFC’s musing on the project: YWY musings

Horrible, horrible, horrible news: At least 24 dead in evacuee bus explosion:

A bus filled with 45 elderly Hurricane Rita evacuees from the Houston area caught fire early Friday on gridlocked Interstate 45, leaving at least 24 dead, according to local officials.

I hope these evacuations (and how badly they are going) are a wake-up call to the government (and the American people) that we need to find a better way to prepare our cities, towns, people for disasters.

It certainly is a wake-up call to me. Pre-Hurricane Katrina, I had naively expected that the local, state, federal governments were better prepared (especially after the devastating hurricanes in Florida last year). I am not casting about for blame just hoping that we can figure out a way to expedite the process of evacuating folks. God, this is just tragedy upon tragedy.

My heart goes out to the loved ones of those folks on the bus.

failbetter.com issue #18 is now live–among other tasty morsels, it includes an interesting interview with poet, Mary Jo Salter. Go on and read it.

If you read nothing else today, you MUST read this: Sub-Zero by the fabulous and amazing Ellen Meister.

Fisher update: There were no new sightings last night but upon further investigation, Allen and I have determined that the fisher (in some photos, and, indeed, this is true for the one I saw) resembles the Snuggle fabric softener bear (which I have always found to be a little sinister to be honest) except the Snuggle bear doesn’t have the fangs and the long claws. I’m guessing those didn’t go over well in the focus groups.

And as I examine my Field Guide to Mammals and my Mammal Tracks & Sign books, I am learning that this creature has been around here for a while. I was able to identify it’s scat and realize now that some of the digs I saw last winter actually belonged to it. How exciting. I am almost anxious for it to snow so that I can more easily see its tracks.

The Firebox Fiction Competition Winners have been listed. Congratulations to the top three.

I grew up rurally in the Adirondack State Park. As a child and teenager, I spent a great deal of time in the woods. I saw lots of deer and birds and a black bear or two but only once did I ever see a fisher and that was from a car window, as it quick took off back into the woods.

The fisher is elusive and mean. Carnivorous, he preys on small animals mostly and will also eat carrion and rotting vegetables. He favors showshoe hares and porcupines (which should tell you something about his ferocity). He is mostly nocturnal but will come out during the day.

Today I saw my second fisher.

Less than an hour ago, I was sitting in my yard, reading a book, drinking a glass of wine. Darby, my dog, was by my side, almost asleep. He’s been acting weird all week–not wanting to venture too far out into the yard, instead staying close by. So we’re sitting there and the sun’s still out, almost ready to start setting and then both of see it at the same time–it’s a fisher and it’s about 20 feet away and slowly making his way toward us.

Darby is up and on the thing before I can even move and then it’s running and Darby’s chasing it (he’s on a run, by the way, so he’s leashed) and I’m screeching for him to come back (but he hasn’t quite mastered the come when called command). But finally I get him back and we go inside and I catch my breath and go back out and rescue my wine (I know you were worried about it).

And I wonder how it is that me and this wild creature, this predator who wants only to be left alone, were on this same patch of grass together. It bugs me that I’m in his territory. That he even has to feel grass beneath his feet (and scary claws) and it excites me that I’m here with him. That this place, seemingly so placid, is, in fact, filled with more wildlife than I could have ever expected. It’s exciting. It’s terrifying.

I wish the fisher well. I also wish well the porcupine family that has been inhabiting our street all summer–although, I fear they are lost.

So today, an otherwise shitty day, I am one of the lucky few people who have seen a fisher up close. That has got to mean something, doesn’t it?

In a humorous, often tragic, and haunting collection of stories Quinn Dalton’s Bulletproof Girl explores the lives of women–young and old–who would like to disappear, to overcome, to become invincible, bulletproof.

I liked all of these stories, but was especially drawn to “Midnight Bowling” about a Midwestern teenager, Tessie, in the 80s whose AIDs striken father has killed himself (rather than die scorned and depleted in his small town) and whose mother has become a religious freak with a creepy married boyfriend. What could be a depressing story, turns into a story of hope when Tessie escapes from her mother and makes her way to college. And in doing so, we cheer for her, want her to survive and thrive, and, most importantly, hope that she becomes bulletproof.

Each story is, in its own way, touching and evidence of the talent of this writer.

I am EXTREMELY happy to announce that one of my favorite people, the inspiring Ellen Meister, has sold her second book–read all about it here: A second book deal!

I’m uncomfortable with work that is published posthumously because I always wonder whether the author would have been happy about it or what would the author have wanted changed. With that said, I’m intrigued with the news of the publication of Marlon Brando’s coauthored book (the other author is dead as well), Fan Tan:

The book, which was published by Knopf on Thursday, originated as a screenplay and treatment. Set in the South Pacific in the late 1920s, it tells of the intrigue that develops between the roguish and “thick-of-thew” Captain Anatole (Annie) Doultry and the sexy, deadly pirate queen Madame Lai Choi San.

From nerve.com, Steve Almond on why the fifty-year-old Lolita endures:

There was one in particular, a women I’ll call Rita, who, as it happened, had more than a hint of the nymphet in her. She wasn’t exactly “four-foot-ten in one sock.” More like five-one in black stockings. But she was small and pale and occasionally dressed like a schoolgirl, and this made us all the more leery about directly endorsing Lolita. So we sat around parsing Nabokov’s intricate wordplay and sipping our beers until, toward the end of the night, emboldened by a shot of George Dickel, Rita stood up and addressed us in an imploring tone: “But you guys, don’t you get it — he loves her!”

Got the latest Black Warrior Review in the mail yesterday and read it cover to cover. It’s an absolutely fabulous read and gorgeous to look at. I loved all the fiction (especially the stories by Lewis Buzbee, George Singleton, and Adam Prince), the nonfiction by Rachel Rose was PERFECT (it’s about disgust), the poetry by G.C. Waldrep was great, and I am in love with the artwork by Julie West. Top-notch journal–get your hands on it if you can.