Nick Cave to remake The Crow

I love The Crow. I love the 1994 film (but not the terrible sequels), and I loved James O'Barr's graphic novel even more. Usually when I hear of a remake, I despair. But after hearing Nick Cave is to rewrite the original script, making it closer to the original graphic novel, I became quite excited.

I've not listened to much of Nick Cave's music beyond the soundtrack for The Proposition - which, coincidentally, is my preferred music to write to at the moment. Not only did Cave write the music for this film, he also wrote the screenplay. The Proposition is set during the colonisation of Australia and follows the story of an outlaw facing a difficult decision. The desolate shots of landscape, the minimalistic music and use of dialogue make this a beautiful yet unsettling piece of cinema.

I am very interested to see what Cave can bring to The Crow franchise. Will it be darker than the original? Can a serious film ever be made about a man dressed as a crow and out for revenge (a criticism of the new Batman films)? What will Cave bring to the soundtrack?

I, for one, am intrigued.

(I'd love to see Cillian Murphy in the lead role... But that's just me. I love that guy.)

Submission Managers for Indie Publishers

I recently came across this online submissions manager for independent publishers. Submishmash (submishmash.com) is a free service and has a lot of useful-looking features such as defaul letter-drafting and statatistical analysis. However, the biggest turn-off for me is that a writer will have to sign up to submit. Another hope to jump through. I wonder if this would put writers off. On the other hand, they will be able to track their submission through the website, as well as their submissions with other publishers who use Submishmash.

HTMLGIANT reviewed the service well. I noticed that PANK magazine has recently started using this system, as do Word Riot.

I wonder if writers are more likely to jump through an extra hoop to submit to established 'zines. I wonder if a start-up 'zine would suffer if they chose this method.

On the other hand, this may filter out the half-assed submissions from people who don't bother to read the guidelines. In the age of the internet, people are looking for quick, free, easy ways to get published - not all people, but a lot of people. Will signing up to a site such as Submishmash filter out some of these types of submission? Is that a good or a bad thing?

Just some general thoughts here.

Writers and publishers - what do you think?

As a writer, would such a system put you off? Why/why not?

As a publisher, if you've used submissions managers, what was your experience? If you haven't used them, would you consider it?