Sunday, February 15, 2015

What It Is – week ending 15 February [2015]




With apologies to Dave the Thune (as well as Mike Baron & Steve Rude).

HAPPY V-DAY (the day after)!


WRITING:
Every day.  1000 words.  That’s the goal. 

Passed 75,000 words on the novel (draft 1) this week, while continuing to write every day [I’ve only missed a single day of writing in 2015; at this point last year, I’d missed at least five].  Though, as I approached that landmark, I ran into a major snag.  I knew where I needed to get next, in the story, but I had no idea how that was going to work organically.  So I pondered on this for quite a while, and hit upon it.  I would take one of the earlier tangents I followed in the first part of the novel and weave that into the recent shake-up of the status quo to ease along to the next landmark.  This is why I’ve taken the advice of writers who loosely outline their stories, which allows for them to stay on track as they write while affording them the opportunity to follow unexpected tangents that inevitably arrive. 



READING:
Finished re-reading Dune Messiah this week, and I loved it.  I know there are many Dune aficionados who hold up the first novel with due reverence, but then diminish the narratives of the latter novels.  I plan on re-reading all the subsequent Frank Herbert written Dune novels this year (which probably will leak over into next) to see if I agree with this, but as far as the second one goes, I can’t ascribe to this line of thinking.  I really enjoyed the more limited scope of this second outing on Arrakis, with the political intrigue and the enormous weight of Paul’s visions, as the shorter novel hurtled along to its conclusion, wherein the status quo was shaken up drastically.  I applaud Herbert’s confidence and courage in not being unwilling to kill off or dramatically change important characters.  It’s something that makes these novels feel more “real” and, as a result, makes them more engaging, in my opinion. 



I’m also reading Grendel: Black, White, and Red, a collection of short stories featuring the Hunter Rose incarnation of Grendel, all written by Matt Wagner, with art from a variety of notable artists like John Paul Leon, Paul Chadwick, Ho Che Anderson, and Scott Morse.  It’s impressive how many ideas Wagner is able to examine in short, eight-page spurts that not only are entertaining but add to the grander myth of his character, Grendel.  Highly recommended.



WATCHING:
Watched volume 2 of Kill Bill, and it’s official, Brad, this vaulted to the top of my Quentin Tarantino list [with the caveat that I am watching these in order – most of those after Jackie Brown, for the first time – and so I still have Death Proof, Basterds, and Django to watch and rank].  I loved the samurai exploits, the not so subtle links to westerns Tarantino made, particularly with the music, David Carradine (and that Superman speech toward the end), and the variety of approaches Tarantino utilized for this revenge epic.  Loved it.


I’m also halfway through True Detective.  Man, all the accolades and hype is well-damn-founded.  These characters are so well defined and play off one another with such drama and tension, not to mention the investigation and the strange, and surreal, twists and turns it has taken in these first four episodes.  I can’t wait to see how this all plays out, and I’m looking forward to checking out season 2, whenever it hits DVD.  Now I need to read Pizzolatto’s novel.



MISCELLANY:
Dan – the other guy above [insert pointy-finger here] – is starting a podcast to talk all things pop cultural.  It’s going to be called the Potato League Podcast, and you should definitely seek it out, when it hits.  The first one was to be recorded yesterday, so it should be available soon.  Here’s the facebook page.  Look for it!


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


No comments: