With apologies to Dave the Thune.
WRITING:
Every day. 1000 words.
That’s the goal.
With the coming holidays, and other
responsibilities, my writing has tapered off a bit this week. When last we met, I had written roughly
290,000 words for the year, with 231,000 of those being “new” first
drafts. At this point, I have reached
295,325 words with 236,475 “new” words.
I will easily pass my goal of 300,000 words for the year, but life is
conspiring against the daily goal.
All of this writing is paying off. I got a huge email this week. A crime anthology I wanted badly to be a part
of will be publishing the latest story I submitted to them. It still feels a bit surreal, and I plan on
going into a bit more detail when publication gets closer, so I’ll keep it
vague a while longer. But, for now, I’M
IN!
READING:
Finished re-reading the
Bendis/Maleev Daredevil run. It is still
enjoyable, but upon this subsequent reading, some cracks in the foundation
revealed themselves to me. Nothing to
heinous that it ruined the experience for me, but enough so that it trickled
down the list of “favorites” a bit, which also reaffirmed my affection for my
favorite DD run of all-time (Born Again, excepted) from Ann Nocenti & John
Romita, Jr. I plan on writing more about
both of these runs, so we’ll leave it at that, for now. Look for the Bendis/Maleeve piece soon, and
the Nocenti/JRJr piece far down the line.
Comic Geek Speak has also been
reading and discussing Daredevil this year on their podcast. The most recent episode dealt with the
“[Frank] Miller era.” This 2 ½ hour discussion really got me
excited to go back and re-read my Miller Visionaries trades, and I’ve almost
completed the first one of these, which includes all the work written by Roger
McKenzie, with a fill-in by David Michelinie.
And they are pretty great, even better than the first time I read these
a few years back. I think at that point
the hype surrounding this run of stories was too much to live up to, especially
considering hos stellar “Born Again” is, which the CGS guys did not get to with
this one. That book, they will be
tackling issue by issue, it sounds like, and that is something I cannot wait to
hear.
WATCHING:
Watched the second Hobbit film,
“The Desolation of Smaug.” This one, even
more than the first, diverges far away from the source text, in order to make
it more exciting for the audience. I
suppose that’s smart – different mediums and all – and I know that my middle
son said he really enjoyed this one.
But, for me, I am unable to divorce this movie from my childhood
experience with the book, and with every new obstacle that need not be there, I
shake my head. *sigh* Which means my
objections should be taken with some sense of skepticism
It feels like a cookie cutter
script due to this, rather than consequences growing from choices made by the
characters. We never get a chance to
know these characters, because they are always on the run, battling some new
obstacle, and doing it with a grace and facility that rings untrue (let the
elves have their grace with their lithe bodies, but give the dwarves a
different fighting style, please). And
the romance between Tauriel and Kili. Ugh.
That said, Smaug was magnificent
(see what I did there?) I enjoyed the
scenes with the dragon immensely, even those that trailed far from the path of
the book. I felt a sense of dread for
Bilbo (and, come on, Martin Freeman is wonderful as the hobbit, though it feels
much like he’s playing “himself” or at least a character very similar to Sherlock’s
Watson), and the hubris of Smaug was defined well, though not as expertly as in
the book as there were moments where it felt like he should have just roasted
the dwarves, quite easily, but that would have been the end of the film with no
third film to come. And I am anxious to
see what comes in the final film, for no other reason than where it ends with
Smaug. So, despite its flaws the film
did its work. We’ll see how “The Battle
of Five Armies” turns out.
Started the FX show, The
Americans. Only halfway through the
pilot, but it’s pretty awesome thus far.
1981. Russian spies in
America. Their new neighbor is a
counterintelligence FBI agent. Let the
fun begin. And, come on, how did the
writer of Speed (Graham Yost) manage to get this and Justified onto the small
screen? Doesn’t matter, because it feels
like he’s got two certifiable great shows on his hands.
MISCELLANY:
In the Mouth of Dorkness – the great,
and frequently updated blog, from friends Matt & Brad – is now a weeklypodcast, with the able assistance of newest dork, Darren Smith. The initial ‘cast is almost two hours long,
but it didn’t feel like it. These guys
sounded comfortable behind the mics – they should, having been talking all
things dork for some years before ever starting the blog – and there was none
of those uncomfortable pauses or bits of dead air one might expect from newer
podcasters. They discussed the new Star
Wars teaser trailer along with some current films, and then went into their “Fistful
of Influences,” their top 5 films that have formed the film fans they all
are. It was fun and insightful and well
worth listening to if you enjoy film, especially genre film – though they do
cover the gamut with regard to eras, genres, filmmakers, etc. leaving no stone
unturned, or some other treacly cliché.
Fun stuff. Check it out.
And look for my own "Fistful of Influences - movies" in a day or so.
SIGN OFF:
As always, check out my friends – Brad& Matt and Don McMillan for their own weekly recaps on things comic-y and geeky, and we'll see what's
what in seven.
-chris
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