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Plans for Break, and how they have or haven't been realized thus far--
Rewrite of By Night: Past p. 95. Now moving into the single most difficult phase, which involves me completely re-choreographing the final action sequence to fit my director's location/budget.
New Blood from the Air Prologue ("Villa Locusta"): Lots of notes written, some transcribed. No completed sections as yet. Prospective length, in deference to "Spectral Evidence"'s success--4,000 wds.
"The Jacaranda Smile": Transcribed/added a huge essay about my early experiments in storytelling that I thought could make a good anchoring set-piece. Still only one section completed. Over 6,500 wds.
Working out every day: Not so much, due to this fucking strain, which usually necessitates soaking my left foot (ha!) in icewater at some point during the day, 'round about the time I start feeling like my heel is going to wear a hole through my Achilles tendon. The ankle and toes also tend to feel as though they're filling up with fluid whenever I sit/lie/stand in one position too long, which they probably are. I need to go see somebody about this ASAP, but can't do that until Tuesday due to the civic holiday (ie, other reason why BodyFlow every day ain't an option).
Good stuff: Saw The Descent, which is genuinely tense and tragic. I came out with my heart still hammering in my throat, very impressed by Neil Marshall's technical skill and respect for his actresses. Backlash already seems to fall into two camps, the predictable "it's not all THAT" vs. the slightly less predictable/far more demented "this is sexist!!!"...My rebuttal: Not only is it patently untrue that, as one review snarkily noted, "no men were harmed during the making of this film" (excuse me, husband impaled with pole through head in first ten minutes? Many obviously male [and some obviously female] cave-crawlers beaten to death, spiked through eyes, strangled, bashed, ripped open, etc.?), but the idea that any film in which women get killed is necessarily "sexist" is a pretty ripe one. What's Marshall supposed to do, inject guys into the narrative for no other reason than TO get killed--ooh, sort of the way other, stupider directors do with women? It's arguable that Marshall's playing with the concept of the so-called "Final Girl", the recent cinematic reverse-stereotype which equates females embracing instinctual/primitive-level violence with New Age-y female empowerment; yes, ladies do strike Ripley-esque poses here and there during The Descent, but they tend to be undercut in terms of voyeuristic pleasurableness by the fact that said ladies are often either morally questionable or patently insane (as anyone, male or female, would probably be under similar circumstances). I don't see that as "sexist", simply thoughtful and neat, so maybe I should just turn in my vagina here and now.
Other good stuff: SciFi is making The Incredible Screw-On Head into an animated series--or might, if you went to YouTube.com right now, watched it, then told them you like it! Steve,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
agincourtgirl and I already did, and it most sincerely rocks. Emperor Zombie (David Hyde Pierce): "...ha ha ha! No, seriously, there's actually a joke in this last part here--Gung was funny!"
Other other good stuff: Enjoying The Water Room, Christopher Fowler's first Bryant and May Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery. David Wellington is finally doing another serial novel (Frostbite, about werewolves); as usual, it's hosted through brokentype.com. Finished re-reading Peter Staub's Mr. X, and it eventually gets a lot better than I remember from the last time I tried to force myself through it. All that.
Bad stuff: 4:40 AM now, and I'm still doing THIS. Christ Almighty, I need some sleep.
Rewrite of By Night: Past p. 95. Now moving into the single most difficult phase, which involves me completely re-choreographing the final action sequence to fit my director's location/budget.
New Blood from the Air Prologue ("Villa Locusta"): Lots of notes written, some transcribed. No completed sections as yet. Prospective length, in deference to "Spectral Evidence"'s success--4,000 wds.
"The Jacaranda Smile": Transcribed/added a huge essay about my early experiments in storytelling that I thought could make a good anchoring set-piece. Still only one section completed. Over 6,500 wds.
Working out every day: Not so much, due to this fucking strain, which usually necessitates soaking my left foot (ha!) in icewater at some point during the day, 'round about the time I start feeling like my heel is going to wear a hole through my Achilles tendon. The ankle and toes also tend to feel as though they're filling up with fluid whenever I sit/lie/stand in one position too long, which they probably are. I need to go see somebody about this ASAP, but can't do that until Tuesday due to the civic holiday (ie, other reason why BodyFlow every day ain't an option).
Good stuff: Saw The Descent, which is genuinely tense and tragic. I came out with my heart still hammering in my throat, very impressed by Neil Marshall's technical skill and respect for his actresses. Backlash already seems to fall into two camps, the predictable "it's not all THAT" vs. the slightly less predictable/far more demented "this is sexist!!!"...My rebuttal: Not only is it patently untrue that, as one review snarkily noted, "no men were harmed during the making of this film" (excuse me, husband impaled with pole through head in first ten minutes? Many obviously male [and some obviously female] cave-crawlers beaten to death, spiked through eyes, strangled, bashed, ripped open, etc.?), but the idea that any film in which women get killed is necessarily "sexist" is a pretty ripe one. What's Marshall supposed to do, inject guys into the narrative for no other reason than TO get killed--ooh, sort of the way other, stupider directors do with women? It's arguable that Marshall's playing with the concept of the so-called "Final Girl", the recent cinematic reverse-stereotype which equates females embracing instinctual/primitive-level violence with New Age-y female empowerment; yes, ladies do strike Ripley-esque poses here and there during The Descent, but they tend to be undercut in terms of voyeuristic pleasurableness by the fact that said ladies are often either morally questionable or patently insane (as anyone, male or female, would probably be under similar circumstances). I don't see that as "sexist", simply thoughtful and neat, so maybe I should just turn in my vagina here and now.
Other good stuff: SciFi is making The Incredible Screw-On Head into an animated series--or might, if you went to YouTube.com right now, watched it, then told them you like it! Steve,
agincourtgirl and I already did, and it most sincerely rocks. Emperor Zombie (David Hyde Pierce): "...ha ha ha! No, seriously, there's actually a joke in this last part here--Gung was funny!"Other other good stuff: Enjoying The Water Room, Christopher Fowler's first Bryant and May Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery. David Wellington is finally doing another serial novel (Frostbite, about werewolves); as usual, it's hosted through brokentype.com. Finished re-reading Peter Staub's Mr. X, and it eventually gets a lot better than I remember from the last time I tried to force myself through it. All that.
Bad stuff: 4:40 AM now, and I'm still doing THIS. Christ Almighty, I need some sleep.
