Slapping Night

Ever seen The Villiage? I figured that movie out in about 30 seconds, which is sad because I usually don't figure out movies that do something different. Anyway, it sucks, don't watch it.

Want to know something just as bad, if not in some ways worse? Lady in the Water. M. Night Shayamalan had really stunk it up with his last two movies. I saw this one earlier and was upset.

Here we've got a writer/director that I really had a lot of respect for across the board. That hit a bump with The Villiage, but not all that much. But Lady in the Water is total boredom. What's worse is that there is a movie critic character that explains how there are no new original ideas and comments upon some movie cliches. The saddest part about this is that these statements heavily imply that everything we, the audience, think is boring about the movie, is the reasoning why we should love the movie.

The movie liked contradicting itself, wasting actors, and thriving on the concept of being a "bedtime story." Ugh. After this, I decided that I should get my money back from M. Night Shayamalan and/or slap the taste right out of his mouth. I think a swift left backhand would get the job done.

Hollow Returns

After recently taking apart and rebuilding the character of Kathryn Angel, I thought I might go back an edit "The Golden Hollow" again. I can't really explain the process this time around, only that I've looked at things with a fresh perspective.


One of the things that caught my attention most was the contrasting rage and sadness that Kathryn has--that a lot of my female characters have for that matter. Here, I tried to capture the moment when Kathryn, enraged, emerges from her "disguise," hellbent on destruction. The oddest thought I had in making this picture was that she should seem like some deranged geisha. Short of the makeup and the heavy accessories, that's not too far from the truth.

Also, I edited "Dwindling Time," my story about internet chain letters that I wrote in about half an hour. I was pleased with it, so I didn't do too much to mess with that one. Maybe I'm just waiting for someone else to read it and trash it. :)

Adventures in Bookselling

This is about a day late, but who cares.

I was working behind the register yesterday and one of the first transactions of the day was to a woman and her young daughter. they bought a couple fo plush dog toys, one of which was all black and the other a mix of white and black. The black one was for the little girl, which she held thighly to her chest. I don't have another term to use here, except for the cliched one: a child's love.

The other toy reminded me of my first dog, Champ. Champ was a half-spitz, half-border collie, and all attention hound. Champ loved to get into pictures. When we tried to take pictures of her first litter of puppies, the moment we took the picture, her nose ended up directly in the middle of the camera. Thus we got a nice picture of Champ's face instead of the puppies.

Anyway, back with work, i managed to emerge from my drought of discount card sales, selling two cards all day. One of those cards was in fact a gift for a relative. I also got someone who was getting a refund on a book to buy another book for the exact same amount. I got to make a few recommendations to a gentleman asking for good books in the science fiction/fantasy section. Me? Science fiction/fantasy? No...

Also, I caved and I've actually bought a book of political discourse. A few days ago, I picked up The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. He's just a good-natured nice guy trying to make it where Democrats and Republicans get along and talk,not spew hatred at one another.

Writing Notes 12-7-2006

Just a description of the current state of things.

1. Got a little bit of Ashes of War going again. I'm working on something of a chase sequence. Several giant anteaters chasing each other while their riders clash swords.

2. My Soundscope is slowly coming together. The characters are starting to develop in my mind as actual characters and not placeholders for characters. The big debate right now is over how many primary male protagonists there will be (one or two). I need a duelist and a computer expert, but I'm not sure if it should be the same character.

3. Been talking to a few friends I haven't spoken with in quite a while. I was reminded that I not only have a mostly finished short story that I can polish, but I also have a draft of a novel I can do the same thing with. This is why I decided I needed to get back to writing again. Slow and steady wins the race.