Does Tom's new movie really cost $400M?; Gaga over this new cover; My very own Trains, Planes and Automobiles experience
3 Things this week and the poem "The Nosebleed"
I’m grateful to be home after a week with travel (but more on that later). We’ve entered a busy few weeks of travel as Petra and I jump to different spots around the globe for work in the sprint before we hunker down at Christmas.
I hope this post finds you well. Thanks for spending some of your weekend with Things I Wrote Down.
Let’s get right to it: here are three things and an a poem.
1. Does Tom's new movie really cost $400M?
The answer, apparently, is No. But did anyone else see the news that broke that the second part of the final Mission Impossible film had a budget of $400 million?
I jokingly posted on X that if so, at least $100 M had to be for Tom’s big stunt, which, we know will need to outdo all others.
Bigger than climbing the tallest building in the world. Better than being strapped to the exterior of a jumbo jet. Wilder than hundreds of high altitude jumps and riskier than holding breath under water for world-record setting lengths. And of course, even crazier than riding off a cliff with a motorbike. (Here’s a list of his 12 most jaw-dropping stunts).
Cruise and others have debunked the rumour. My guess is it was slipped to a reporter to create some buzz. And it worked.
I can’t wait to see the final instalment of what has been a decade-spanning thrill ride for audiences around the world.
2. Gaga over this new cover
No, I’m not talking about Lady Gaga’s cover of Cher’s Bang Bang.
I’m talking about the new book cover for my award-winning script Delft Blue, which I released this week.
Forgive me for getting a little gaga about it. The play means a lot to me.
My grandparents lived in Delft during the occupation, which is where I’ve set the play. They had young children during the war and they were pushed to the brink like almost everyone else in occupied Holland, close to starvation when Canadian Forces broke through, liberated Holland and, memorably, dropped parcels of food that saved so many lives, including my family’s.
But when my grandparents left Holland and immigrated to Canada after the war, they left everything behind, including most of their stories from the war. I gleaned a few details along the way, but was mostly too young to know what questions to ask of my Oma and Opa about their experience.
Along with the loss of the greatest generation are the stories that they held, so many untold. From them we could have learned so much more about what it meant to survive, to resist, to be in lockdown, to be courageous and brave. For me, Delft Blue is my attempt to salvage some of the sense of feeling, some of the meaning of living in that time.
I invite you to check it out. If you have a family member who enjoys WW II history or thrilling stories, it’d be a great stocking stuffer this Christmas.
3. My very own Trains, Planes and Automobiles experience
Yep. I had my own Trains, Planes and Automobiles experience this week as I travelled back from meetings in Colorado amidst an epic snow storm. I can report that it’s much more fun to watch the movie than to live it!
The last time I flew through O’Hare in Chicago, the plane I was on clipped the wing of an other plane as it pushed off from the gate. A passenger reported this to the flight crew, since no one else had noticed. We sat on the tarmac for over an hour as the ground crew inspected, only to confirm that the passenger was right and the aircraft was unsafe to fly.
This week in Chicago, I bled out in the bathroom. Not from a gunshot wound, but from an epic nosebleed that was the souvenir I didn't want from the arid climate of Colorado (I was rerouted to ORD after the mega snow storm that made travelling home crazy).
The reroute involved closed highways, rental cars, last minute regional flights an unexpected stop in Chicago, all as I attempted to rush home so I could hand off the travel mantle to Petra who was scheduled to fly to the UK for work.
We knew it was a tight timeline, and this made it way tighter.
It's tough to be at the mercy of the weather and of airlines. It's a type of helplessness I've felt before, but is maximized when you have family eagerly awaiting your return and eagerly want to return to.
As a tribute to all the beleaguered, delayed travellers out there, here's a clip from a film that is essential viewing. Enjoy.
A poem
My literal nosebleed reminded me of this poem I wrote sometime ago when I was living for a stint in Malaysia.
As a longtime resident of Alberta where the dry air makes bodies shrivel like the epic “chosen poorly” chalice scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, nosebleeds were a regular part of life. I’ve learned to roll with them. But I haven’t had many in adulthood.
They became a metaphor for me, though, about letting the heart, the insides, bleed out. This poem won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. But there’s an idea worth exploring here.
Let me know what you think.
the nosebleed
I. Diagnosis: the problem fingers point at the noticeable flow (hushed whispers and quick side glances) words under breath heard at the subliminal (level eyes are registered) embarrassed silence because of occasional drips (meant to be covered or stopped up) nose upturned crimson colors the room II. Prognosis: the predictable outcome muffled cough says more than prepared mental monologue that will now only be performed in private Some say it is cerebral rolling over in the bed of intellect everybody has them and would share but fear fingers or sealed statements that close doors on things meant to be left allowing fate to be decided by the assumptions of others in their minds anyway because they didn’t get it right so the pregnancy of firstborn freedom is terminated by the initial sentiment, once again of another with no afterbirth to follow justified exclusively on the basis of noble interests: preventing another suicide the free fall of words that were never internalized that jumped out “impulsively” bled with honesty that killed promising intelligence III. Prescription: advice for those affected turn down the nose and let it bleed out then repeat after me: nose bleeds don’t bother me