Posted on January 26, 2010 - by MG

Up In The Air (I’ve Been There)

Up In The Air (I’ve Been There)

Originally uploaded by mgharris

There’s a lovely Clooney movie out just now, "Up In The Air" which features a key scene in Detroit Airport (also the airport destination of the latest Al Qaeda nutso, the Underpants Bomber.) Now who’da thought that an airport that I had never visited in years of travelling, at least 5 times to the USA, would suddenly become so ubiquitous, months after I happen to spend several happy hours there?

The simple answer is probably that it’s the major hub for American Airlines, who feature prominently in the Clooney film.

Is "Up In The Air" good? For a movie that purports to be a romcom it’s being taken quite seriously. But that is only because it isn’t actually a romcom. There is one important convention to romcoms, you might even say it’s the defining characteristic and it isn’t followed in this movie. Then again, "Annie Hall" ends with the lovers apart too.

It’s a good comedy drama though. With a rather nice, poignant twist at the end.

I took this photo in Detroit Airport, next to the jumping fountain. In the movie Clooney and his young co-star stand in almost exactly the same place, also with a sunset.

Meanwhile, "Zero Moment" is effectively published early, with online promotions starting this week at Waterstone’s and swapitshop.com

I spent today writing my 2010 author talk. First school event on Wednesday. Krispy Kreme party for the Joshua Facebook group on Friday. Big launch party next Tuesday. Much excitement and cake, then down to editing Dark Parallel.

Wednesday 27th also sees Joshua’s first outing in Polish!
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