Finished: A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Thoughts on the debut of John Carter behind the cut. Not really spoilery. ( Read more... )
Started and finished: The Fifth Omni Book of Science Fiction (short stories)
Started: Camouflage, by Joe Haldeman

Thoughts on the Omni SF book behind the cut. Not really spoilery. ( Read more... )
Finished: Otherland: Vol 4: Sea of Silver Light, by Tad Williams
Started: Queen of Mazes, by Karl Schroeder

Thoughts about the whole of the Otherland series behind the cut. Some minor spoilers. Quick thought: liked it more than I thought I would. ( Read more... )

Other news! I have a new tasty sandwich treat. Mortadella and Caesar dressing. Now, one of my favorite sandwich discoveries of the last decade was Mortadella and Feta Cheese. Very nice, but there's one problem. I have to have Feta. And though I love feta cheese, I don't eat it enough to make it feasible to have it on hand at all times - it's too expensive in small batches and goes bad in large batches. So usually I only get it if my grandmother gives me some from her own batches (she uses it a lot), and so Mortadella and Feta is, although awesome, somewhat rare for me. However, Caeser dressing does a lot of the same good thing - gives it a nice tangy, salty kick, and I can have Caesar dressing all the time. So it is now superior on my list of favorite sandwiches.
(By favorite sandwich discoveries I mean things that I can make easily and for relatively cheaply, not fancy frou frou sandwiches or ones that require 50 steps, no matter how awesome they might be).

In other food news tried a microwave (PC) 'lamb rogon josh' dish today, which was quite nice for a microwave meal. Never had rogon josh before, but it might be worth trying sometime if I get the chance at a real place.

And, haven't mentioned dreams in a while, but there were a couple in the last few days I wanted to get down. One involving something very disturbing from Doctor Who, and another just SF goodness. ( Read more... )

Oh, and damn you Marvel. You finally decide to do a Runaways What If (What If... The Runaways became the Young Avengers)... and not only do you have to give it to CB Cebulski to write (a guy who seems very nice and apparently likes all my favorite characters, but to whom I've never particularly enjoyed any of his writing), but you make it a BACK-UP story to five other What Ifs I have no interest in. *shakes fist*. I think I'll have to resort to... let's call it magic, to get this story.

Finally, shouldn't there be _some_ standards and accountability with television commercials? I mean, specifically, that when a TV channel advertises something as an "all new episode", should it not _be_ an all-new episode, and if it is not, that commercial pulled and replaced with one that does not use that phrase (or, in the absence of that, some kind of punishment)? I'm speaking specifically of the Comedy Network, which I watch a fair bit, and I constantly see commercials for Corner Gas that start with "ON AN ALL NEW CORNER GAS"... except they're reruns. This year's reruns, sure, but reruns all the same. NOT ALL NEW. YOU DIE NOW. It's not like I'm looking forward to new eps or anything, it's the principle of the thing - if you advertise All New, it had damn well better be all new. It's bad enough when US channels used to advertise something as the "World television premiere" of something that already aired in Canada, but this is another level entirely. I don't actually think they're being deceptive in this case, just lazy (too lazy to redo the commercials from when it was new), but laziness is not an excuse - you're a network, you've got millions of dollars - fix it. *shakes fist*.

I did a Sci-Fi friending meme a while back, and got some new friends out of it. So, welcome! Maybe I'll try to do one of those intro memes going around in the next little while. One thing you should probably know is I occasionally do big random post full of whatever comes to mind, with few segues.

Done another writing cycle... still working on the same longer story I was doing so last time, and still doing well with it, know generally where I'm going, so that's a relief. It's still pretty rough, of course, but I'm having fun with it.

I hate when ads answer questions I never asked. On the way to work I pass a place where there's a big sign in the window saying, "Yes, we have lemon tarts!" That's a little presumptuous of them, don't you think? How do they know what question I'm asking? Maybe it's "Do you have anything that I can break into your store and steal without you getting mad or pressing charges?"

Speaking of ads, whenever I see a dating website commercial that shows a couple happily in love, I always try to find myself imagining which of them will snap and attempt to kill the other first. Have I become too cynical?

In TV, what's been new? BSG and Doctor Who! (Hey, that's a poem and I didn't know 'em!)
BSG was somewhat disappointing, all in all, both all this year and, to a lesser extent, the finale. It wasn't bad, just, kinda meh. We'll have to see where it goes. I'm still thinking they jumped the shark with the Final Four. I get the impression they got too enamored with OMG COOL NEW IDEAs at some point that they dropped the ball on their previous ongoing plots and won't be able to tie everything up in a fundamentally satisfying way.

Doctor Who, though, wow, that actually turned in a good episode by RTD. Surprising, because his are the episodes that I usually dislike quite a bit, even if I like elements of them. This one, although it had a few rough spots, was overall very well done. (My main problem is that I thought the reactions turned a bit too extreme _too_ fast, at least without invoking alien paranoia-rays), and I don't think I have any reservations in calling it one of RTD's best. And, for that matter, possibly one of the best of the season.

I saw a trailer for the US version of Life on Mars. I didn't really plan on watching it, but was just curious. Now, one of the big rumors is that they're going to redo the whole pilot and recast everybody except the star. Based on the trailer? Wow, I'm hoping the rumor is the exact opposite. Because I can see everything else working in a kitschy sort of way, but the star is _so_ flat. And you do not mess with Colm Meany. You recast something to _get_ Colm Meany, not to get rid of him. Anyway, I probably still won't watch it, regardless of recasting, unless nothing else is on when it premieres, but it's the principle of the thing.

You know you're a comics geek when anytime someone starts talking about 'green living', you instantly suspect them of being Skrulls (or Green Martian, I suppose, for DC fans).

This week I got one book:

Young X-Men #3 (Meh, wishing it would get to the point)

Full reviews as usual at my comic reviews site for anyone interested.

I also picked up at the used bookstore:
Probability Moon, by Nancy Kress

Work wasn't bad. Showed up early and not too heavy. Also, it helped me prove Heinlein wrong today! That is, in the specific case. There WAS such a thing as a free lunch, and I had it. They had a deal with the Wendy's next to us that employees got a free meal. So I had their 'Spicy' chicken breast sandwich combo. I say 'spicy' because, well, what the media considers "Spicy", I almost always consider merely "flavoured". Don't get me wrong, it's usually a pleasant flavour, but I need more of a kick to count it as spicy and am constantly disappointed when something advertised as spicy isn't. And I'm not even one of those crazy major league chili-heads. Still, yay for free food, even if I probably should have gone for the Baconator.

Random other thoughts:
Things I saw on the way home today: A guy fall off his bike in the middle of a street (luckily there were no cars around that the time). A fistfight break out between two people (looking around high school age, and near a school). Rosey O'Donnell at the Bookstore. Well, technically I don't know if I saw her. I saw the crowd around her, and it's possible my eyes crossed over her at some point, but I could not confirm.

At the bookstore I also happened to see "Indiana Jones and the Philosopher's Stone", which makes me wonder.. surely somebody out there's written a crackfic where Indiana Jones stumbles upon rumors of a parallel society running off of magic, in England, and so investigates Hogwarts? I mean, come on, Internet. I'd be disappointed if someone hasn't.

Pet peeve: I hate all the headlines saying 'Obama makes history'... not because I don't support Obama or don't think it's great he passed this particular milestone, but because "makes history" is a meaningless phrase - if he lost, it would make history. If he choked on a celery stick and had to be rushed to the hospital it would make history. Whether he won quick, won after a long fight, lost quick, lost after a long fight, he made history. If he quit right now to become a hermit in the woods where he carves make a congress out of wood to agree with him, he makes history. History dutifully records what happens even if it's not a huge milestone that's never happened before. In my glorious new regime (which would, btw, make history), the phrase "makes history" would be banned from newscasts.

Also, is it wrong I'm much less bothered by the fact that the people on the colon check commercial are transparent and have visible internal organs, than I am about the fact that they're apparently going to the movies nude?

Finally, it's come to that time. I must say goodbye to Newsarama. That is, I must say goodbye to the forums. I'll still read it for news, I suppose, although by the looks of the front page it'll probably stop being my primary source. But I'm leaving behind the forums, which have changed formats. Why?

Because you need javascript to access it. To access forums. And that's abominable. I'm sorry, called me old-fashioned, but I like to surf with javascript off, 90% of the time, and it manages to cut out 90% of the crap (viruses, popups, etc). Having a site that _requires_ javascript On almost guarantees I will rarely use it. (Although often, if there's a site that I like that doesn't require it, I'll add it to my 'allow javascript on these sites' list, because it provides _easier_ use. But if it requires it, usually gets a 'screw you' response). IMHO, it's extremely poor web design. In my glorious new regime it would be disallowed for forums. So, I'm out one more forum.

Book Foo!
Finished: Otherland, Vol 3: Mountain of Black Glass by Tad Williams
Started: The Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

No detailed thoughts since it's part of a series and one part left to go. Still enjoying it though.

Started and Finished: Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow (available online, and read that way)

Thoughts behind the cut, not especially spoilery, though. ( Read more... )

Finished: Ventus, by Karl Schroeder (available free online, but I read it in book form)
Started: 13 Great Stories of Science-Fiction (short story collection, mostly stories from the 50s)

Ventus thoughts behind the cut. Not really spoilery. Short version: Quite liked it, will have to check out more by the author.
( Read more... )

What else? TVwise, Lost was good this week, BSG better than the last few, and Doctor's Daughter had some good moments but overall didn't satisfy. Don't really feel a need to go into it any more than that, though.

Haven't done one for quite a while, so let's do another Wiki Random Battle!

The Rules:
Go to Wikipedia, select Random Article twice, and pit the results against each other:

Round 1: The Cocoi Heron vs Sir Winston Churchill Public School
Results::
( Read more... )

Round 2: Gaston Leroux, Canadian politician vs Richard Beesly, British Rower
Results::
( Read more... )
Round 3: Baeocystin, a psychadelic mushroom component vs ProgressSoft, a software development company
( Read more... )

Lifewise, well, nothing else really new. When is anything? My life unchanges. Yes, my life is so static that it forces 'unchange' to somehow be a real verb.

Edit: Oh, and it's around that time of year for Networks to announce their schedules. A few networks have already announced their slates, and this site I've found has given me a good roundup of them in the past.

First, the regional accent meme. For reference I'm a 30 year old Canadian in Toronto (but who moved around a bit when I was young).

What do you call these things?

A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks: Waterslide
The thing you push around the grocery store: Employees
A metal container to carry a meal in: Cage
The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in: Toaster
The piece of furniture that seats three people: 3 Milk Crates
The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof: Gnome
The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening: Tree
Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages: Poison
A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup: Bacon
A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself: Gyro
The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach: Not enough.
Shoes worn for sports: Unimportant.
A flying insect that glows in the dark: Radioactive mutant cockroach
The little insect that curls up into a ball: Radioactive mutant cockroach (in defensive posture)
The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down: Deathtrap
How you eat pizza: Naked
Where private citizens sell their household goods/stuff in their driveway/front yard: Pathetic
The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are: Lair
The thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places: Sink

Okay, real answers: ( Read more... )

I don't think Wendy's advertising people have logic is a strong suit. I saw a recent ad where they said, "If hamburgers were meant to be frozen, wouldn't cows come from Antarctica?"... uhm, by that same logic, if hamburgers were meant to be cooked, wouldn't cows come from volcanos? Holy crap, I'm never eating at Wendy's again, they're not going to cook my burgers.

Who was on. Plot a little dumb, though the Adiposes are cute and could make a good plushy toy. Liked Donna for the most part but was worried that they were leaning too much towards her lurving the Doctor. Yes, they made that whole speech "I'm not mating with you", but it still struck me as her earlier chats with Grandpa that felt to me more that she thought the Doctor was awesome and wanted to lurve him rather than just wanting to travel and see the universe. But most of the reviews I've read had people who came away with the distinct impression that she _doesn't_ feel that way, so I'm hoping I'm wrong and they're right. Even if I am, it still feels a bit too much like Hero worship, I'd like a little more independence in compaions.

BSG was okay, but no big comments on it.

In surprising nice news, yesterday morning as I was heading out to work, I noticed some paper in my inside jacket pocket where I keep my hat, and decided to clean it out. There, what did I find? An uncashed paycheque from work... from mid December. So yeah, that was a bit of a surprise. Pleasant one, though.

Anything else? Don't think so.

Probably old hat since it's been boingboinged, but... Ever watch a zombie movie and wonder, "Hey, in the midst of this zombie apocalypse, I wonder how beloved magicians Penn and Teller are faring?"... Well, here's your answer.

In other news, feeling pretty low on motivation all around lately. I'd have hoped I'd pull out of my winter depression by now, but it's still going on. Anyway, despite that I've still managed to do some editing on writing. Also word comes that I may be able to get a free, secondhanded printer in the next little while, so that helps too, lets me expand my submission range.

Other computer's still running but I haven't tried to reboot and I occasionally hear odd sounds from the HD so I suspect it may only be a temporary reprieve from death, unfortunately.

Got a call today that the truck would be late tomorrow. Except the last 3 times I've gotten such a call for Monday it was followed up on the actual Monday with a call at the regular time saying it was there and where was I (combined with the driver having no idea about it even being thought to be late). So I'm not getting my hopes up to it.

In media... Atlantis finale was okay, but not as cool as I'd hoped. Still, only a couple months till the next ep, and pretty soon SG1 movie. Supernatural's renewed for another season, probably not a big surprise, but nice to hear. Still waiting on word on Terminator. Caught the new Spidey cartoon. Not bad, weird mix of Ultimate and regular continuity elements, a couple annoying voice actors, but worth a look. Wolverine and the X-Men's still a year away though, so it'll have to do me until then for comic cartoons. Comicbookresources has been doing a feature on the cast of Paul Cornell's Captain Britain and MI-13 comic series... unfortunately only Wisdom and John the Skrull really appeal to me, but we'll see, maybe I'll like the new char or some of the older ones I've not liked much before.

Ah well, enough for now.

So, posting a bunch of random stuff again...

Is it just me or does "Vantage Point" look like on of those crappy "go through the same story from different people's points of view" type plots that every TV series in existence eventually does one episode based on the concept if they last long enough. If so, isn't that, as a movie plot, in the 'done to death' category?

Speaking of movies, the more I see commercials for Jumper the more I'm convinced I'm going to be disappointed in how much they changed from the book, to make it worse. It's kinda killed off my interest in seeing it.

It should be come as no surprise to my flist that I'm a man who shuns reality and lives deeply in fantasy. When I'm not watching TV or movies (which are often fantastical or SF in nature), I'm often working out story ideas or SF concepts in my head, or daydreaming around a SFish concept in a Walter Mitty way. These daydreams go back and forth, certain ones repeat every once in a while after a break, sometimes I do several different ones in a day. Lately though I've been stuck on the last man on Earth scenario. ( Read more... )

Looks like the Writer's Strike may be winding down. Yay. Hope it lasts past the initial 'back to work while we vote on the actual deal' and hope it's a good deal for them, since they deserve it. Edit to add: They officially voted to end the strike, at least until they have a chance to review and vote on the deal. So writers are back to work tomorrow.

Speaking of writing, done a writing cycle. Started a new story and managed to finish it... except I hate it. I still like the idea, and maybe one or two of the beats, but I don't like how it turned out and if I want to use it I'll probably have to write it all over again from scratch. And I'm not even sure how I'd start. So, kind of a good news bad news situation. Oh well.

I've been feeling a little iffy for the last week or so. It's odd, sometimes I feel fine, but often at some point during the day I feel dizzy and very very slightly nauseous. It's irritating, but I suppose it's better than being actually sick. Although sometimes I wish sickness would come and get it over with rather than these shadows of it coming and going regularly.

One of the few forums I hang out at closed suddenly. Most of the people knew it was coming (though not quite so suddenly) and so there's a backup getting in place for the people who hang there, but still, end of an era, of sorts.

Doctor Who Fandom Meme/Survey, stolen from locker_monster.. ( Read more... )

Thoughts on yesterday's Terminator, the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Slightly spoilery, also with an answer from one of the producers that some Terminator fans have wondered about since the second episode about a potential 'mistake'. ( Read more... )

Finally to end on a random note completely different from all the rest, I have been craving spiciness lately a lot more than usual (I always enjoy it). Also, I've been craving trying something _different_ than all the usual stuff I try. I am considering getting a bottle of Jerk BBQ sauce when my current BBQ sauce of choice (chipotle) runs out, to perhaps satisfy a little of both at once.

So, I'm a fan of ImprovEverywhere, but I usually only go to their site when I'm alerted to their shenanigans from some other site like . So today I saw their prank where 200 people froze in place in Grand Central Station for five minutes, and as is my nature, I went back to see if I missed anything else. Well, I did. They had their annual No Pants Subway Ride day... and this time, in addition to the New York one, they had it in Toronto as well, along with something like 8 other cities. How did I not hear about this? Probably because I don't read the papers, since it supposedly made both of our big ones. But yay for Toronto.

I personally never could have gone on No Pants Day due to extreme shyness (I don't even wear shorts in summer), but, still cool. The other new development I missed was that they've set up an Improv Everywhere Global where spinoff groups are sprouting up in other cities. Maybe one day I'll actually get to see an op in progress, or if I ever get some nerve, participate.

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The latest selection from Harper Collins Canada's First Look program (where they are willing to send me free advanced review copies of books in exchange for writing up my opinion of them) for this month actually had a book I was interested in. It's a YA book called "Gone", in which everybody over 14 suddenly disappears from the world. I've toyed with similar concepts in my own head and have enjoyed seeing other variations of it (the plague that kills adults, like was done in Jeremiah). So I put in a request for that one. Hopefully I'll get it, and it'll be my second book.

-

Judging by the commercials, people who like Malteasers are easily amused.

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Why Canadian Teachers should be carefully monitored

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Crazy snowblowing today.

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Lost was last night. Decent episode, although I still haven't had a chance to really 'get into' it again. Hopefully the next few eps will help with that.

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I got a "Wow, good for you" from a stranger today. I was at the grocery store after work, and the cashier asked me for my postal code, and if I walked there. Now, either she's stalking me and is now on to getting rather obscure information to make her fantasies extra complete, or it's some kind of market research thing. In any event, she just noted it down, but I guess the woman in front of me in line must have had some idea that my postal code was rather distant from the store, because she said, "Wow, good for you" when she heard I walked. (It's about a 45 minute walk, maybe an hour when the snowfall's heavy and unplowed as it is was then).

Stupid State of the Union, making TV suck tonight. Of all the things Bush is to blame for, this is the worst. Well, okay, maybe not the worst, but it's annoying me right now.

Anyway, some stuff... lets see, we had Stargate over the weekend, but it was a total filler ep.

And in a bit of Canadiana of interest to probably nobody except me... I must have not been paying attention to the news, because I only just recently noticed that Space, Canada's science fiction cable channel, is now owned by CTV, when it used to be affiliated with CityTV. ( Read more... )

Writing cycle's over, ahead of schedule because, yay, I finished another story. It was a much older one. I actually thought I finished it earlier but when I went back to do some editing I remembered that I didn't. I had decided in broad strokes where to finish it, but the nitty gritty wasn't actually written, and there were many details that needed to be worked out. So I worked on that most of the time, and managed to get it finished. It'll be a pain to edit though, even more than normal. ( Read more... )

And from my writing to someone else's, Book Foo!
Finished: The Depths of Time, by Roger MacBride Allen
Started: Superluminal by Vonda McIntyre

Thoughts on DoT behind the cut, conceptual spoilers and other stuff behind the cut. In short, I didn't care much for it.
( Read more... )

I think we'll start off with some Book Foo.

Finished: The Best of Interzone (short story collection)
Started: Otherland, by Tad Williams (tentative choice, subject to change)

Thoughts behind the cut, not terribly spoilery becuase it's a short story collection. ( Read more... )

Random rant. You know, if someone hasn't picked up their cell phone after you calling them for more than half an hour straight? They might not be there. Particularly if they're at work. But somebody uninvolved might be in the vicinity of the cell phone and not appreciate the words "I wanna lie dowwwwwn in a beeed of roses!" repeated on an endless loop every 3 seconds while you try. The rule is if you can't reach them in a minute, you try again every 5 (you can constant call a landline if you like, in an emergency)

Oh, and my childhood suffered a severe blow, as I watched the animated movie Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight and it was... so bad. (not really any spoilers except in general how they differed from the books)
( Read more... )

Really not much to say lately, but a couple random things...

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is tonight. At least the pilot is, which I've already seen, but let's face it, until the strike's over TV's mostly going to be a dead zone from now on (except a few series burning off their last couple of episodes), so I might as well watch it again. I'm really looking forward to seeing the next ep, tomorrow. I made some icons of the first ep months ago, I'll probably post them on my master icon page after it airs.

I actually watched T3 last night, again. For some reason when the Terminator movies are on, any of them, if there's nothing else pressing on I'll usually watch them. Now, I know T3 was roundly hated by most T-fans, and I do think it was far inferior to T2, but I find it has a certain charm to it, despite its big flaws. (spoilers, including for the ending)
( Read more... )

Some Book Foo...
Finished: The Paradox of the Sets, by Brian Stableford
Started: The Depths of Time by Roger McBride Allen

( Read more... )

Also saw Stargate Atlantis... decent episode, a bit predictable at times (I could see plot points being set up for later). Good to see them doing something with that character. Heh, the badguys thought of the same plan from the last episode that I did, although that doesn't totally excuse the goodguys not thinking of it.

And a few memes:

A couple survey memes from firefox27, probably already done them, but why not again... One Word Meme and Layers of Me
( Read more... )

Stolen from kissingdaylight...

The Mayfly Project
Sum up 2007 in 24 words:

Much the same as 2006, with more writing. Tried NaNo for the first time, finished halfway through November. Moved once, was hell. Otherwise stable.

Speaking of Nano, I'm in my first writing cycle since before NaNo started (since I take December off from writing to the numbers, and NaNo was a single project). Not going too bad... it's been a little harder to get going but I'm still on schedule for each day's work. Working on two different short stories, while tossing ideas around for a third that has an amusing concept but I'm not sure where to work a story around it yet. Unfortunately I'm near to running out of steam on both the other two stories, so I might have to turn back to older work until I figure out exactly where I'm going with them, what the perfect ending is, etc, else I'll just be writing dross.

So yesterday was one of those days that make me wonder if I'm not secretly in control of the universe on a subconscious level. Why? Because I found $20 on the sidewalk. That's not all, you see, because earlier in the week my brother found $20 (and separately in another incident, $10), and he mentioned it yesterday so while I was walking to work I was thinking to myself, "man, wouldn't it be cool to find $20", and then on the way home, there it was. This was similar to another time when I was thinking about how I once found some bus tickets on the ground, and how cool that would have been, and then later that day I spot like 5 of them on the ground. But then my rational skepticism kicked in, ( Read more... )

Speaking of, Heroes was last night. The first of the big TV show droughts. No spoilers here, but it did feel a bit rushed with plotlines seemingly being dropped (there was originally supposed to be one more ep in the volume but they hastily rewrote when the strike seemed unavoidable, so at least there'd be a conclusion to it), and just a weakness overall. I love Heroes conceptually, but I do think they need to make a few changes in writers and maybe directors, because it's not as good as last year and there are really some dumb plotting bits that need to be smoothed out. Particularly (this is not so much spoilery for the last episode, but a problem that's been recurring throughout this season, and contains some spoilers of that) ( Read more... )

WGA is still on strike. 100% support for the writers here. I'd like to briefly rant about two things I keep seeing popping up on people who are down on the writers (and I realize that most people on my flist are rightly supporting the writers or haven't commented at all, but I see it on message and comment boards a fair bit, and I feel like ranting here rather than there):

1) All these writers suck nowadays anyway, TV is so lame I can't watch it, they don't deserve to get paid what they get.
2) Writers are greedy, they make too much money already, and now they want more? And what's this with residuals, they should just do a job and get paid and have that be the end of it like people who do costuming and set design.
My responses, cut. ( Read more... ) Anyway, rant over.

Today/Last night I had another cool zombie apocalypse dream. They're still shambling around in my subconscious, I guess. This one involved the Marvel Zombies, at least at the start. ( Read more... )

Oh, and I'm thinking of doing a DC companion piece for the icon I'm using. But I need ideas, both for what to say and who to use. I've got the Batman one settled (he writers on his livejournal, then gives an example in typical batman gritty style, ending with MY PARENTS ARE DEAD!), but I don't really want to just have the exact same jokes as the Marvel one with different faces, so need ideas for other ones. Feel free to comment.

Edit: Because I just found it. Spider-Man: One More Day. Either you know the rumors and have an opinion, or don't and should ignore this. But as bad signs go? The writer (JMS) himself saying he considered taking his name off the last two issues of One More Day is a pretty bad one.

Just a bunch of random stuff. Some segues inserted for your protection.

TVwise we're getting very close to the TV Dead Zone, with nothing new going on. There'll still be Atlantis for a while (and had a pretty good episode this week... yay for Canadian references!), but the strike will cut out most things, if it hasn't already (which it has for many). Brief thoughts on this season? A bit weak. Heroes has had its ups and downs (last ep was a down, hopefully it'll end on an up). GA continues to annoy me more than make me enjoy it. Pushing Daisies has been nice. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles starts in another month or so.

2 For 1 Book Foo...

Finished: The Atrocity Archives, by Charles Stross
Started: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, by Max Brooks

Thoughts on Atrocity Archives behind the cut. Minor conceptual spoilers. Short version: Not bad, but not my favorite Stross and not my style of take on mythosy stuff, so a bit disappointing. ( Read more... )

Finished: Altered Carbon, by Richard Morgan
Started: Quarantine, by Greg Egan

Thoughts for Altered Carbon behind this cut. Not terribly spoilery. Quick verdict: Enjoyed it.
( Read more... )

Speaking of fiction, NaNo is over of course, but I finished a while back so it doesn't feel like a big relief to me. Still, a big congratulations to everybody on my flist who completed the task. And those of you who didn't, well, there's always next time, good for you for doing as much as you did.

Writing wise I've decided my big goal for the next year (this is not a New Year's resolution because I don't make those, I am speaking of it as a goal from now until next December) is to finish up and start submitting some of my short stories. ( Read more... )

Canadian Content! So, I tried the President's Choice new ruffled potato chips. Buffalo Wings & Blue Cheese was the best - also the one I'd tasted before (not the brand, but that type). Szechuan and General Tao's chicken tasted too close to really warrant having both of them there. There were slight variations (Szechuan tastes slightly better to me, though I like the name of General Tao's Chicken way more), but it felt like a bit of a failure of imagination to do both. Neither would go into my regular rotation, though Buffalo Wings might.

Speaking of Canada, we're supposed to have the coldest winter in 15 years. Well, I'm ready. Maybe it'll inspire me to work more on the plot to Great Canadian Zombie Film.

Oh, and we've informed that our rent is going up. By $12.91, or some absurd number like that. Weird. But not a problem.

Okay, there's these commercials for this movie called 'Nancy Drew', about some teen girl outcast who solves mysteries. Come on, can't anyone come up with any ideas other than ripping off Veronica Mars? ;) (Oh, hush, I know Drew came first, I'm just kidding, but the commercial does give me a bit of the same vibe, even though they're outcast for different reasons). Maybe if the movie does well, for the sequel they'll adapt the controversial "Key in the Clock" (so many swears).

I reconfigured my room a few days ago, reorienting my bed and putting in my desk and all my comics, so it's much more cluttered, but I like it better this way. I'd kept the old way because supposedly people were going to fix my window but since I've been here 3 months with no word on when, I'm assuming someone dropped the ball on that. Really, I don't care about the window being fixed, it's a small crack and I don't look out of it anyway.

Doctor Who was... pretty good. I do have some serious reservations about it, though. (SPOILERS for Family of Blood)
( Read more... )

So some of my high school friends had planned to get together for dinner at a place relatively near me over the weekend. Although I didn't want to confirm for the dinner itself, for various reasons, it was close enough that I thought about doing a surprise drop in to say hello for a few minutes and then going back. Alas, on the day of it slipped my mind and there were no followups on it, so if they did meet I wasn't able to see them. Ah well, would have been nice to see them again. Maybe next time, if there is one.

I have some book foo to do too (wow, try saying that 5 times fast) but I'll save that for another post, I think.

Not been a great day for me in terms of the thin layer of fantasy I use to coat my everyday life.

Firstly, no comic day again. :(. Solely US holidays generally don't affect us, nor do solely Canadian ones like last week. I hope this is just Canada Post (or whoever actually handles it) slacking off these last few weeks and not a signal we're entering a dark age where we'll be delayed _both_ for Canadian and US holidays.

Anyway, since my only comic this week was due to be Teen Titans, I'm making this a skip week. I'll get the issue next week. I'm not making the hour long walk to the comic store and back just to get one book, a fill-in run by the writer who ruined Batgirl. It can wait.

Secondly, my shadow struck again. I think I've mentioned it before. I seem to have a shadow. It's often the case where I'll see a book I want in a store and say 'I'll get that next week'. And it doesn't matter if that was the first time I saw that book, or if it's been there in that same spot for months and months, the day I finally decide to go and get it? Someone (my shadow) has already purchased it. This week it was a cheap copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. *shakes fist at shadow*.

So, instead of comic day I'll just do a couple of random things.

But first, since someone will bug me if I don't: For lunch I had a pastrami sandwich, with mustard.

Work was a bit of a pain, hot + heavy load, so tired. Anyway, on to randomish stuff.

Things I Saw On The Way To Work, or How Hollywood (North) turns a cemetary into a fun children's park( Read more... )

Speaking of the movie biz, I found out thanks to Facebook that I went to school with an actress. Elementary school, my dear Watson. ( Read more... )

If I ever rule the world, in my glorious new regime, the bottom of every screw will serve as a screwdriver head for screws of that type. Then, you don't usually have to worry about having exactly the right type of screwdriver... all you need is an extra screw, and some kind of general purpose screwdriver that can use the screw as a head.

Finally, it's a hot one today, so I hope the Canadians on my list are aware that you can get $5 worth of FREE icecream from Chapmans, once per year per household, just by sending an email. I read it online and tried it out, and lo and behold, a few days ago (and only a week or so after I sent the email), I got a coupon for $5 off Chapman's products. That's one unrestricted coupon, so you could by a $5 thing of premium icecream or get a great deal on 2 of the cheaper variety (or presumably even wait for a sale). You just have to email contactus@chapmans.ca and request a coupon, saying you heard they give out one per family per year, and giving them your name and address. Sorry, only in Canada.

Bah, I had most of this written up but a power blip made me lose it. Die power blips, die!

Okay, let's start out with more questions from that interview meme, these ones from monkeykong...

1. You keep a fictional 'alternate journal.' What drove you to writing that story in this format as opposed to, say, a novel? ( Read more... )
2. Least favourite Firefly character? Why? ( Read more... )
3. In the imminent zombie holocaust, how long do you think you would last? ( Read more... )
4. What would your super hero costume be like? ( Read more... )
5. Would you rather be a cult icon or a worldwide superstar? ( Read more... )

Remember, if you want questions from me, post here.

Book Foo:

Finished: The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons (Reread)
Started: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge

Thoughts (some spoilers), selected quotes, and thoughts springing off from the quotes behind the cut.
( Read more... )

Moving on to Dream Foo!

One a cracky crossover with The Office, Doctor Who, Stargate Atlantis, and Runaways. Another is book foo related.
( Read more... )

On my floor, which is wood-panelled, there are a few dark spots, looking like burns or whatever, slightly ovalshaped. There's a big cluster of them in a spot that I don't see on a regular basis, but will occasionally see. Sometimes if I'm not paying attention or I see them when my eyes are a bit blurry or in the middle of focusing, spotting them sets off my OMG BUGS! reflexive reaction before I realize/remember what they are.

Heroes tonight, woot! (That's a general woot, not a comment directed at woot, unless she's also interested, in which case it serves both purposes) Bit of a shame Drive got cancelled, but I can't be too upset, I was only partway interested in it. Enough to keep watching, but not enough to be broken up at it being cancelled.

I've noticed while looking through some LJ entries (and adding tags to a bunch) from long ago year that I write a lot less now than 2 years ago. Huh. I suppose at least part of that is that I save up stuff to do in megaposts like this rather than posting every time I get the urge, though.

I think as of this entry I will be resuming my old habit of choosing my mood completely randomly, regardless of my current mood. Because you people already see too much into my psyche for my tastes! Also, because if I use my real moods I only get to use a few of my mood icons, and, well, that's not as much fun.

Haven't done one of these in a while, so here we go, strap yourself in... if you're into that sort of thing, anyway.

Lets start with a Interview meme:
Want me to ask you five questions? Leave a comment, I'll ask you five questions, and then you answer the questions in your own journal.

Here's 5 questions from foxfyre...

1) What was it that got you started using the internet? ( Read more... )
2) You generally avoid any ODA (online displays of affection). What are your criteria for making an exception to this rule?( Read more... )
3) How the heck did you put up with running XET for so long? ( Read more... )
4) You've mentioned in the past that you don't like music. Can you explain that a little bit?( Read more... )
5) If you really were a super-powered individual, what do you think your power would be? ( Read more... )

Facebook continues to be an odd source of nostalgia. I've made contact with a few friends from way back that I hadn't heard anything from in years. There's even a group for the old BBS scene in my city. And found, but didn't contact, a couple other people, mostly old crushes and the like. I was also surprised to find a photo of myself in Grade 5. Someone uploaded a class picture, and I stumbled upon it (through a weird series of searches). I don't actually remember the person who uploaded it, but I found myself in it all the same.

On to talking about writing, I'm on another writing cycle. I've been toying with making an addition to the workload. Right now, for 'on' weeks, I do 2000 words per non-work day, for a total of 8000 words. But lately once in a while I've been feeling an urge to write somewhat more... frivolous stuff. Stuff that I'd feel bad claiming under the word limit, but that I kind of want to do for fun. Like, for example, attempting to write a movie adaptation of a book I like, or a comic, or something like that. It's not really 'my' work, but I find such things fun sometimes, even if it couldn't go anywhere. So I'm thinking of devoting one of my work days on a writing cycle to working on these sorts of things. Not Wednesday of course, since that's also comic day, which means in addition to work, I'm walking for something like 3 hours that day, and it's also a relatively big TV night, so I don't really have time. But on Friday I usually could swing at least some time for writing, and Sunday my work's really negligable, although I tend to sleep more in the afternoon to make up for waking up so godawfully early. Though also on Sundays at least on a semi-regular basis I go do family stuff, so that would eat into the time. Anyway, I'm still thinking.

So, that big university massacre. Normally I'm silent on such things, but there were a couple of things I noticed on the coverage that I wanted to get off my chest.
( Read more... )

But on to happier things to end off. TV! New Heroes on Monday finally. Woot. Supernatural was fun this week. Grey's Anatomy, okay. Didn't care for LOST this week (Sorry BKV, I knew it was your first, but too much stupidity on the part of the characters). Still mixed on Drive. Other than that, there really hasn't been a whole lot new, aside from Doctor Who. (very few spoilers behind
cut) ( Read more... )

And in honor of that, let's start with my impressions of the place after a week of living here:
( Read more... )

TVwise, Heroes has of course been awesome these last two weeks (and has inspired me to start work on a couple heroes icons), it's just a shame we have to wait 5 more for the next new ep. Lots of other things have been in reruns, but I've seen all but the last episode of Stargate SG1 now. Also some thoughts on LOST, BSG Jericho, I'll try to be remarkably unspoilery behind the cut.
( Read more... )

Let's see, what else... because my non-writing-week was taken up mostly by moving stress, I've decided to make this week a writing amnesty week, with a little bit of intention to make it an editing week. I'll try to do some editing of the stuff I've already done.

Book Foo:
Finished: Stardoc, by S.L. Viehl
Started: Time's Eye, by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
Still Reading: The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons (reread, Friday and sunday)

Some thoughts behind the cut.
( Read more... )

Dream Foo over the last couple weeks. Some Office, some Battle Royale, some semi-lucidity: ( Read more... )

So, finished up my third Writing cycle on Tuesday. Went fairly well, met my quotas. Sort of finished a story too. I say sorta because I brought it to an ending, but I don't feel like it was the right ending... but I don't know what the right ending is, so until I do that's how it's going to be. Also worked on a couple other short stories.

TV. No significant spoilers. ( Read more... )

Book Foo: Finished: Hyperion, by Dan Simmons (reread)
Started: Fall of Hyperion, by Dan Simmons (reread)
Still Reading: Stardoc by S.L. Viehl

Thoughts and a quote behind the cut. A warning, some particularly devout and sensitive religious people might want to skip this part.
( Read more... )

Let's see, what else. Had to talk to someone at children's aid yesterday. I do not like talking on the phone with people I don't know with little preparation. :P. Actually, you could cut that sentence down to 'I do not like talking on the phone'. You could possibly even get rid of 'on the phone', too. But ah well, it's over with.

The makers of the drug 'Vytorin' have a poor grasp of genetics, and thus I wouldn't trust any drug made by them. They say "Cholestorol might come from bow-tie pasta... or your Uncle Bo". No. That is incorrect. The only way my cholestorol might come from my Uncle Bo is if either Uncle Bo is actually my real dad, or I ate Uncle Bo. They're either stupid, or estimate the amount of cannibalism in their target market is high. Either way, I do not want to be associated with them. Okay, seems I misheard 'Grandpa' as 'Uncle'. Rant retracted. Still, there's an uncomfortably high cannibalism symbolism in that commercial. But I'll replace that with another commercial pissing me off. NO ELECTION HAS BEEN CALLED. PLEASE STOP WITH THE NEGATIVE CAMPAIGN ADS AGAINST THE LIBERAL LEADER. I mean, I could understand it (though would still be against it) if he was actually the Prime Minister. But he's not. And the constant ads are making me hate _you_ more. Wait till an election is called.

Speaking of commercials, Tandoori Sizzler nachos taste mostly like nachos covered in taco seasoning. Which isn't unpleasant, but is not as exotic as I was hoping. Ah well. Maybe the next new chip flavour will rock my world.

That's it for now.

Edit: Oh, and I've made my two rotating icon slots Runaways related, making everything except my default ghostly pic Runaways-related, until BKV's last issue.

My thumb's sore. And not quite as opposable as usual. Am I devolving down the evolutionary chain? Or perhaps I just hurt it playing Ultimate Spider-Man. Probably the latter.

This year, I'm going to try really hard not to post a depressed, ranty, V-Day post. Because really, it's all been said.

Features I wish LJ had (or if they already do, I wish I knew how to do it):
1) Browse posts to a community written by a specific person. Mostly this is so I can track down some of my old posts, but sometimes I might want to see what someone else has posted before.

2) Apply tags to your friends list. A lot of times I watch, say, Supernatural a couple days later than everyone else, and lots of my flist post about it that first night. I don't want to backtrack 3 pages to find the posts about it, or go to everyone's individual journal and read back (as I ususall do), I'd rather just say 'okay, let's look at 'tag supernatural' on my friends lists. Though I realize it'd probably be a lot more complicated to code than basic tagging (depending a little on how the flist is implemented), it would still really improve my LJ experience.

Book Foo:

Finished: Big Planet, by Jack Vance
A Fire in the Sun, by George Alec Effinger

Some thoughts, minimal spoilers, behind the cut.
( Read more... )

Started: Hyperion, by Dan Simmons (Thursdays and Sundays) (reread)
Stardoc, by S.L. Viehl (Wednesdays)

Random cracky crossover idea. Yet another thing I'm not going to write, and I'd be surprised if nobody else has come up with it yet, but I've been playing around with it in my head a little. One of them is Supernatural.
( Read more... )

One of my minor goals in life is to have the adjective 'intrepid' prefixed to whatever description of me someone gives. I mean, sure, intrepid explorer would be great, or intrepid astronaut, or intrepid post-apocalyptic drifter would be awesome. But I'd settle for 'intrepid manual labourer'. Or 'interpid slacker' or 'intrepid layabout'. I think I've just typed intrepid way too much.

Some TV thoughts. Spoiler-Free.
( Read more... )

Oh, speaking of TV, here's a quick list of the SF-related pilots for next year's TV. My thoughts:
( Read more... )

Life update: Apartment hunt continues. No luck yet. I hate moving.

A couple dreams over the last week or so, didn't feel like writing any of them up as solo entries: ( Read more... )

We've gotten a couple more video games around here over the last couple weeks. Of course, the PS2 isn't in my room so I haven't played them too much. We got Ultimate Spider-Man and X-Men Legends 2.( Read more... )

From video games to TV: We're almost at the official start of the return of cool TV. We've just had a few shows here and there for the last few weeks. I'll talk behind the cut but be non-spoilery, don't worry:( Read more... )

So, writing week one is over, so I'm off-again from a week. I think it went fairly well... a bit of a slog at times, but at least with the promise of a break ahead it helps me slog through them. Mostly I worked on a couple longer form works, but I did start and finish a short story, based on a random idea I had walking home. Once I edit, I'll probably actually post it online cause I'm not all that pleased with it. I know that sounds assbackwards, but it makes sense: the stuff I think might be at least halfway decent I'll try to get published in a magazine or something, and some of them are picky about buying a work if it's appeared anywhere else, including simply online. So, directly posting something usually means I don't intend to try to get it published. But it still needs some cleaning up. Not that I think the story's horrible or anything though, or I'd be too embarassed to post it at all. And, most importantly, I got it done. I've mentioned before finishing is always a big problem.

And before I go, Yet another edition of Wiki Random Battle:

The rules: Go to Wikipedia, select Random Article twice, and pit the results against each other:

Round 1: South African Football Player Hans Volk vs. the Brandi Doll ( Read more... )
Round 2: A conscription crisis vs. "Mind your own business". ( Read more... )

First, Dream Foo. Both actual dreams, and lucid dream strategy.
( Read more... )

Anyway, speaking of that last lucid dream, I've been thinking lately of the somewhat flexible nature of consciousness. ( Read more... ) It's also possible I'm just going mad.

Anyway, yesterday I was watching the Canadian classic Strange Brew, and I happened to look up something about it and noticed that it was a loose adaptation of Hamlet (with the McKenzie brothers playing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern). Never heard that before, but I can see it. So, anyway, later in the day I was watching Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, and my mind wandered (as it often does) to how one might be able to reinvent Farscape in another genre.
( Read more... )

I think I've mentioned before that my brother got himself a PS2 recently, so I've been able to play some. Only have two games at present, Castlevania and GTA: Vice City. Don't much care for Castlevania, but GTA's fun. Anyway, that's not really the topic I'm going for: I was a bit bored, so just did some random thinking on Video Games I'd Like To See: ( Read more... )

First up, Dream Foo! ( Read more... )

Spoiler-light TV bits: Veronica Mars, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Torchwood
( Read more... )

I created my very first Wikipedia page this weekend. I've done some minor edits before, but this is the first time I've created a whole page. It will no doubt interest nobody on my friends list, of course. Anyway, what happened was, while I was rereading the Grainger/Hooded Swan books, I did a wiki search for it, like I tend to do for most series I read. Only to come up empty. Not only has barely anybody I talk to heard of it, nobody'd created a page for it. So, I did. I'll probably be adding a little more to it as time goes on. It's an interesting feeling, adding to the sum total of human knowledge on the internet. And the editing was remarkably easy, I've never actually looked into how to edit a wiki before a couple weeks ago. I'll probably be doing more of it when I see something that needs doing. I'm a wikiconvert!

Speaking of writing (but from another angle), I don't think I'm going to do NaNoWriMo. Can't come up with a plot I want to use on it