I went to college with Stephen King's kid. I didn't know him at all, but everyone on campus adored the fact that his parents had named him Joe. Joe King. Get it? Oh, the clever. It's sort of a cruel joke, but also an awesome bit of human-borne wit from a man who will always be associated with horror. I was disappointed, then, to read in Variety this morning that Joe is calling himself "Joe Hill" (that's a picture of the real one up there) these days. I mean, it's good because he's getting gigs on his own merit, but all the pleasure that was once availble in his name is now gone. Sad.

Anyway, the reason Variety was writing about King Hill this morning is that the film rights to Heart Shaped Box, his not-yet-published first novel (it's due out some time next year), have been purchased by Warner Brothers, who will be getting the story to a screenwriter soon. (Just so you know, according to Warner's reps, they had no idea that "Joe Hill" was related to anyone famous when they read and pursued his work. The book just ruled.) In keeping with the desires of its author's blood, the story is a scary-sounding thriller about "a singer obsessed with the occult who buys a ghost on eBay in the form of a man's burial suit, [and is] ... ultimately forced to confront both the ghost and the demons of his own past." Do you think it's the ghost of Kurt Cobain? That'd be a surprising wrinkle.