| Random quote #2 |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|02:41 pm] |
"Come on. They're not your friends. They're your characters. Rough them up. Make them risk something. It's all fun and games until some character loses an eye. Then it's serious story."
- ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) lilithsaintcrow |
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| Random quote #1 |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|02:29 pm] |
My little brother Travis (who's 21st birthday is tomorrow!) just sent me this via my Facebook Wall. Whatever that means. Apparently, he was my first.
TRAVIS: "wow i broke your wall virginity! that is so wrong in so many ways..." |
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| This is me: |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|12:53 pm] |
sitting here wondering if I'm going to cut 55,000 of the 58,000 words I have.
Or, to put it another way, if I'm going to pretend they don't exist in order to write the next section.
THIS is terror. Profound, magical terror.
It is exhilarating. Like flying. Or falling. And assuming the parachute is going to open or that the ground will be semi-soft.
This is me:
Toes at the edge of the cliff, knocking loose pebbles and dirt off into empty air. |
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| Grendel was an alien! |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|10:54 am] |
Sweet. Vikings and alien monsters? Spaceships AND dragon ships?!?! What's not to love? (ok, probably a lot.)
I have GOT to get this novel finished. Beowulf is HOT.
***edit*** Trailer for "OUTLANDER", via gamera_spinning. Woo! |
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| WORKING FOR THE DEVIL |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|10:13 am] |
by Lilith Saintcrow was great! I am thrilled to endorse it completely.
Quick summary: Dante Valentine is a Necromance in post-apocalyptic Saint City. One day as she's minding her own business, a Lord of Hell shows up at her door to take her to Hell for an audience with Lucifer himself. The Devil hires her for a quick job, and soon Dante's facing down nasty demons, Mob families, bounty hunters, and of course her own dark past.
From the first page, I was hooked, which I don't get to say very often these days. Dante's voice is consistent and well characterized. I believed in her, and liked her. She's tough but not abrasive (shocking!), and her relationship with Japhrimel (previously mentioned Lord of Hell) is keen. Here is a demon who manages to come across completely non-human, distant, creepy, and sexy in a I-might-kill-you sort of way. I liked the way they interacted throughout. Subtle, not ever overdone. Their dialogue is in-character and believable.
Although from the set up, I expected Dante and Jaf to get together, the way their relationship developed I was unsure at several points - well done, Ms. Saintcrow! They learned to trust each other and were friends and it wasn't really about falling in love at ALL. WOO! Props to character-driven plots and character-driven characters that don't conform to genre stereotypes!
A lot happened, and there was near constant movement, but it was never bogged down with unreadable action sequences or convoluted magic. I liked the combat, and the magic was complex but not complicated, and Saintcrow gives you a smattering of details without overwhelming you with extraneous world-building. There was a lot of mystery that you can fill in yourself or hope for from the next book in the series.
A few times there was repetition of language or information, but for the most part the writing was smooth and served the story so that I fell right into it and didn't notice the words themselves - excellent for what amounts to a sci-fi demonic adventure novel.
Oh, and several of the secondary characters were fascinating and pretty unique. They all had prior relationships with Dante, and it worked. There could have been more development of them, but it *is* the first book in a series, so that sort of thing is expected to go slowly. I want to know them better.
My only real complaint was relatively minor, and had to do with a later twist to the plot that started off traumatic but seemed to be resolved way too quickly - it was an emotional trauma, and I'm willing to let it go since I know it will have ramifications later on.
My three favorite things:
1) Dante herself. Great character, in line with trends of UF, but she doesn't fall into most of the traps that annoy me or seem derivative, etc.
2) LUCIFER. Usually when you read about the Devil, he ends up being just not that cool, because hey - the hero is supposed to win, right? So in some sense, the Devil has to lose if you don't have some sort of anti-hero. But woah. So not the case here. Lucifer rocked. He was a bit part, necessarily, but didn't disappoint. Same goes for Jaf - Saintcrow does demon well.
3) ( SUPER HUGE SPOILER )
I wholeheartedly recommend, and look forward to the next in the series. |
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| Happy to report, my head is still intact! |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|08:54 am] |
Well, that's two, count 'em, two major migraines in less than a week. It's been quite some time since I've had them so regularly or been laid out so completely by them. I've really enjoyed the break...wish I could say I enjoyed the time off work. :P
I woke up with a slight ache today, but was determined to make it to the annual side-walk sale, so I ignored it until I'd hit the stores I wanted to.* We were done in time for a quick breakfast at Milton's and after food and some caffeine, I'm feeling better. Still fragile, but better.
Things I've learned:
I need another icepack.
Keep plenty of Ginger Ale on hand (NOT DIET....bleck).
Goblin loves me.
My superpowered migraine meds may now be ineffective. :( My sister has this same problem. Migraine meds will work for a while, then her body builds up a tolerance. I really hope I'm not at this point with the Maxalt.
There are certainly stresses in the recent past that may have been a catalyst for two migraines, but I think it's probably more to do with having been knocked off my regular exercise routine by vacation and its aftermath. Hopefully, I can get back on my regular track in the next few days. Just in time for our next trip! Yay!
*I scored TWO rings for Mistress Rose. They were only a dollar each! I won't care a lick if they fall off during the season! They are simple and silver. One is a band of leaves and the other a small cluster of flowers (we'll call them primroses). Hooray for swag! |
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| No more new B5 |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|07:41 am] |
JMS confirms that there will be no more Babylon 5 Lost Tales or any other B5 related projects short of a big-budget feature film, which just isn't going to happen.
As rougewench and I come closer to the end of Season 5, which I've seen now close to a dozen times, I understand and appreciate his decision. |
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| Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|07:01 am] |
Act II is up. |
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| Terminator: Salvation - 5/22/09 |
[Jul. 16th, 2008|11:36 pm] |
Here's the teaser for Terminator: Salvation, starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington. It'll be running in front of Dark Knight.
( Summary ) |
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| Odin says |
[Jul. 16th, 2008|04:19 pm] |
JUST WRITE, WOMAN!
Stop analyzing and changing and worrying about what's below or the branches you've already passed or the other trees you could be climbing. You picked THIS one and you know what that view up there is gonna be like: flying. Flat out, soul-tearing flight.
It doesn't matter what you think you might have to cut or add or rework. What matters is putting it all down. Write it all. Wring this sucker out of the wet rag that is your brain. You'll feel better after. That's the deal, remember? I should have made you write it down and sign it in blood or something.
Fucking writers. |
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[Jul. 16th, 2008|04:01 pm] |
We traded in our summer clothes for honey wine,
and washed our winsome skin in winter vinegar.
In springtime watched our legs and fingers intertwine.
In autumn’s windy rhythms drank and staggered.
I took your eyes to be the lazy diamond knave,
you took my errant ears to be a soon dead queen,
an ill-conceived excuse but good to misbehave,
in jasmine scented silk and frozen Vaseline.
I threw some tattered meager blessings at the sky,
you pounded on the heaving ground and cried a curse.
We turned and pranced away, ignoring the reply,
Then daring damaged fate to turn from bad to worse.
Let’s laugh together weaving sequined tales of woe,
Inflate our trenchant belly breaths with sacred lies,
So saying only things we know we do not know,
and spin and spin and spin till sparks come from our eyes! |
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| When Fandoms Collide! Plus writing. |
[Jul. 16th, 2008|03:20 pm] |
Ooooo, look! Wil Wheaton talks in his blog about appearing in an episode of Criminal Minds!!!
Cool!
And in totally unrelated news (except that he's a writer and so am I) I am feeling crushed by the need to write a decent short story every week to post in ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) merry_fates. I mean, I stand by the suggestion that I can write a story about anything.
The problem comes from trying to make said story about anything both good and short.
Good and short is a particular combination. A particularly obnoxious one. I think I need to be better at letting myself not worry about it, and at just writing what I want to write instead of what I think I should write. I was so frustrated with the four different beginnings I had that I almost cheated. As Maggie said the other night, we are batshit crazy.
Here's some GOOD Merry Fates news. You can now go to merryfates.com and be redirected to our blog! Easy to remember!
More on the writing front: I'm way behind on my new words for Strange Maid this week (not only because of Fate-wrought angst), BUT I realized that some of the stuff I cut in the massive choppings at the end of June can be used! So I have an artificial bump in my overall words. But they don't count as part of the weekly, alas. So, back to work for me. |
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| Birds of Prey on DVD |
[Jul. 16th, 2008|12:46 pm] |
As part of the buildup to Batman, the single season of Birds of Prey came out on DVD yesterday.
It includes the unaired pilot, which featured Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks) in the role of Dr. Quinzel. Mia Sara was later cast as Quinzel in the series. She also appeared in the AIRED pilot. Interestingly, all of the scenes featuring the character in the AIRED pilot were reshot with Sara, word-for-word.
I remember liking Dinah Meyer as Oracle and not being keen on Rachel Skarsten as a clairvoyant runaway named Dinah Lance, who isn't very Black Canary like. Ashley Scott's version of Huntress is Helena Kyle, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman and a variant on the Golden Age pre-Crisis Huntress, Helena Wayne.
Worth a rental. |
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| results are in! |
[Jul. 16th, 2008|10:55 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  blah | ] |
Extensor tendonitis of the right elbow. I get a tennis elbow strap, aleve twice a day, and lots of ice and stretching.
Also, Patellar inflamation of the right knee. More ice, aleve, and stretching.
If neither feels improvement after 2 weeks, I'll probably be getting a cortisone shot in both. Yay! At least my BP was down from my last dr's visit. |
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calm