newnumber6

No, this does not relate to any real news at all (and shame on you for being disappointed!). It's just I've watched two apocalyptic productions out of the UK recently. One is the first episode of Survivors, the remake of Terry Nation's miniseries from the 70s (or the miniseries based on his book at least, I'm not entirely sure which), in which a plague wipes out most of humanity. The second is "Dead Set", a zombie apocalypse miniseries... set around the (UK) Big Brother House (actually I saw the first ep a few weeks ago but got sidetracked by November and other stuff while I tried to track down the rest). A zombie apocalypse breaks out on "Eviction" Night, and the reality show contestants don't realize anything's gone wrong at first because they're isolated from the world and media. It sounds funnier than it is, but it is very good.

So let's start with Survivors, because I have less to say. It's only the first episode, and being such, much of it deals with the plague itself, rather than the aftermath. But it does a decent enough job in setting up the situation and the characters that I'm interested in coming back for more. Of course, I like apocalypse fiction and other media. A few Doctor Who alum make an appearance, and one of the main cast is someone who's currently odds on favorite to be the Next Doctor.

So, onto Dead Set. When I heard about the premise, I did kind of think they'd play it really satirical, almost comical, like Shaun of the Dead, but surprisingly no - there are certainly elements of satire, but it's dark satire, and most of the plot is played deadly serious, and frankly, it's both gorier and more disturbing in many ways than a lot of the more recent zombie films I've seen. One of the greatest things about it is actually using the Big Brother house and property and celebrity status. It's a tiny bit lost on me, personally, since I've only seen the US version, so I don't get all the in-jokes (like using the actual host and some prior contestants) but I have to give them big kudos for doing it. For example, I could never see this being remade in the US, at least not without it being about some made-for-the-movie reality show, like "Total Surveillance" or "Human Zoo" or "Do I Orwell For The Camera?" or something. And that's a shame, because really, it's the best way to do it. ( Read more... )

The cast, although a few of them are a little bland, are mostly enjoyable and to a fair degree aren't idiots, which is refreshing (of course, they are occasionally, as moments of idiocy are practically necessitated by zombie movies, particularly for climaxes). But they use well thought out plans for dealing with the situation.

If I had one complaint about it it would be that they use fast zombies. It's not a dealbreaker for me, but I generally prefer the slow ones. In Shaun of the Dead writer/star Simon Pegg's review of Dead Set he pretty much agrees and explains why better than I could (Dead Set writer Charlie Booker responds at the end of an unrelated editorial on the US election here if anyone is interested in the reasoning, and so I can forgive him for it and even agree that in some situations I might use fastish zombies, but I just slow zombies best.)

So, yeah, Dead Set is highly recommended for zombie fans. Or Big Brother fans who don't mind gore and swearing and brief nudity. Got me thinking about my old desire for a zombie apocalypse ongoing TV series. ( Read more... )

In other plague news, my cold was very painful over the weekend (and I felt a bit zombieish, except my cravings for human flesh stayed at about the usual level), but seems mostly better now. I thought I might suffer a minor setback from having to walk 45 minutes to work in cold rain this morning, but I had a bottle of OJ for extra vitamin C and bought some ginger beer, the magic cure all, on the way home, so that helped balance it out.

And, while I'm here, I suppose I should give a rundown of PerExWriMo (personal extra writing month). My goal was to write every day but wednesday, and on every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday do my quota of 2000 words a day (Monday and Friday I would be working on script format writing and other things which aren't easy to meter). I wound up with just over 38,000 words of metered writing, and I did write every single day (except Wednesdays when work and often comic day makes it implausible). So I suppose I could count it as a technical success. However, I didn't finish anything, wasn't really excited about most of what I wrote, and didn't write nearly as much on the non-metered writing as I hoped. I also didn't really get any 'new ideas' that caught fire in my imagination, as forced writing sometimes does. The closest I came was a desire to start a movie type script, weaving together many elements I enjoy reading in SF, but of course with my own plot, and I did start that, it taking up most of my non-metered writing time of the last half of the month. I'm kinda digging it conceptually but may not go anywhere, just another half-(or quarter, or 1-tenth)-finished project. We'll see. But now we're in December, which is my official month off from writing, where I only write if I feel _particularly_ inspired.

Yay, Halloween. Not that I'm doing anything (I have a gasmask and some other props more or less ready to go so I can quickly go as a radioactive mutant from the wasteland, just in case a party springs up spontaneously that I can't avoid, but the odds of that are about as close as that of me falling through the floor because my atoms happens to be at spontaneously the wrong place at all the wrong times. Which would actually be kinda cool. Anyway, I love Halloween conceptually even if I haven't done much of it for years. Live in an apartment so there aren't even Trick or Treaters to be vaguely amused. Saw a handful of people in costume on the way home from work but it was still chilly enough that mostly it was just a little facepaint or whatever could be seen beneath coats. Ah well.

Anyway, what's been up with me? Well, as mentioned in the previous post, I've had computer problems. In fact, Wednesday in general sucked. Not only was work late, and I was feeling the start of a cold coming on, but as I was unwinding and getting ready to watch something or other on that computer (my downloading/tv watching computer) there was an error, it spontaneously rebooted and... rebooted and rebooted. Basically one of the hive files of the registry got corrupted. Yay, fun. Anyway, after a good deal of work (during a time which included a spontaneous power failure that I almost suspect was the universe being malicious towards me), I was able to restore a really old registry and be functional (but without a lot of my settings and programs) and thanks to that and a lot more work, about an hour ago, I was able to repair the original registry. So I'm almost where I was Tuesday! (But with a more recent backup of the registry and several boot/repair disks, having at least partly learned my lesson). Just one last crossing my fingers as another reboot (to do some updates that had been neglected) progresses to make sure it all boots up again the second time around.

Anyway, in other news, I will not be doing Nano this year, but I will be doing PerExWriMo again - Personal Extra Writing Month. I'll be trying to write every day except Wednesdays (where my work/comic schedule really messes things up for that) for the whole month. Which might actually be a more impressive feat than Nano last year - last year, I sped through it and completed Nano in a little over two weeks, and so didn't actually spend a whole month of constant work - I took the last two weeks off. This time I can't just take days off without failing.

Edit: Looks like the work continues - boots up fine but IE wants to restart every time I go to a new page. Must still be some corruption in the state of that computer, have to do more work to root it out.

Finished: Consider Phlebas, by Iain M. Banks (reread)
Started: A For Anything, by Damon Knight

Consider Phlebas was the first banks I read, and, although it was also the first he'd published in the Cultureverse, I'd wanted to go back to it, having the feeling that I wasn't quite ready for all the ideas in it and so would get more out of it on a second reading. So how did that go? (no spoilers)( Read more... )

Finished: Nine Princes in Amber, by Roger Zelazny (reread)
Started: The Guns of Avalon, by Roger Zelazny (reread)

I'm low on new books, so I figured I'd reread at least a few books of the Amber series. (Slight summary of the 'verse behind the cut, minor spoilers for the first book I guess)( Read more... )

Looks like no Wolverine and the X-Men this week, YTV was playing Halloween specials. Curse you Halloween! Speaking of Halloween (bless you Halloween!) I've finally started on a couple of my entries for One Hundred Words of Horror. As for the holiday itself, well, I'm not planning on going anywhere or doing anything, so a costume is sort of irrelevant. However, I do have some military gasmasks from my Dad and so if I _was_ going to be anything it'd probably be some kind of radioactive mutant (with my bright green zombie hand and maybe a little makeup under the mask).

And speaking of cartoons, I finished watching Avatar. It didn't finish up quite as well as I'd hoped. With a few exceptions the third season was a bit disappointing, in fact. But as a whole the series was still enjoyable.

So, didn't quite meet my writing quota. But I did write a story start to finish. IT was actually one I finished before but it really wasn't working for me at all so I decided to chuck it and start from scratch with the same concept but a different main character. I think it works better now... not perfect, maybe I could still do better with another start to finish revamp, but it's good enough that I'll edit it and see how it works for me.

Anyway, one of the major reasons I didn't get my full quota in... my grandmother fell and broke her kneecap. So she was taken to the hospital. I went to see her and of course have been a bit worried, but she's tough for 84 years old. It was a clean break, and she went into surgery the same day (see, Canadian health care's not _so_ bad!), and the surgery went well, but at the moment we're not sure whether she'll be able to go home or have to go to a rehab centre for a while or what. So if you have any spare good thoughts, well, they'd be appreciated.

Tvwise, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles was an improvement this week, but I still don't like Riley.

Watched Heroes and... I dunno, I think I was preparing myself for the worst, and maybe overprepared myself, because I kinda liked it. Oh, it had a fair share of stupidity in it like usual (I blame Loeb. LOOOOOOOOOEB!). But overall it was enjoyable, maybe in part because of the cheese factor. (More spoilery behind cut)( Read more... )

Let's start with the Book Foo:

Finished: Revelation Space, by Alastair Reynolds
Started: Needle, by Hal Clement

Thoughts on Revelation Space behind the cut. General concept spoilers only. Short version: Left me a little cold, actually. ( Read more... )

Finished: A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
Started: A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge (reread)

Reread AFutD several times, so there's no need to talk about it again. Always makes me want to read the prequel immediately afterwards. Key phrases: hexapodia as the key insight, still enjoyable.

So, this weekend's been a bit strange. In addition to not having a normal TV (Which does weird and unexpected things to your sense of time), because of minor concerns with the computer of mine that wasn't specifically failing, I decided to run a ScanDisk on it, and see it through to the end. That Scandisk? Took more than 24 hours. So I was without my main talking computer (I segregate things somewhat - one computer is for mail, LJ, forums, and other such that I'm interacting with people, the other is for researching weird things and watching videos. I can do limited switchover, but not in all cases and not especially easily). It was almost a weekend without communicative net. If the progress bar didn't lie to me, it likely would have been. It was at a point where each 1% complete was taking 2-3 hours, except when it reached 95% complete it jumped right to 100%. I'm not complaining, mind you, it's just a little odd (and considering the first 80% was done in something like a half hour, well, progress bars are filthy, filthy liars). Combine that with another weekend without much TV, and it looks like a recipe for boredom.

This was alleviated somewhat with a chip orgy. I'm using the term orgy metaphorically, of course, I may have the odd fetish here or there, but I'm not a freak. Well, not in that way. Since Pringles were on sale for $1 at No Frills and so were Herrs Tortilla chips, I bought a bunch on Friday. Normally I limit my chip intake, but I figured, what the hell, I'm bored, depressed, and hungry.

The other thing I did was watch cartoons on my computer, specifically Avatar the Last Airbender, and surfthechannel.com. See, I only caught onto Avatar somewhere in the early 2nd season. I missed the 1st season almost completely, and never got around to catching the third (they changed the time on me and by the time I realized it, the 3rd season was half over). So I figured since nothing was going on, I'd go back and watch from the beginning. I'm about halfway through the first season now. It's interesting the misconceptions you can develop when you watch a show from the middle. (Cut for length, not really spoilery except for the status of characters in the first episodes)( Read more... )

Speaking of cartoons, Canada's started airing Wolverine and the X-Men (yay Canada), which means that even though I don't have that channel, due to... magic, I could watch it. Overall... promising start. (minor spoilers, and I'll be listing the characters I noticed appearing) ( Read more... )

Writing-wise, despite my writing computer being out of commision all of yesterday, because I got a good head start on it I didn't lose any time and am on target to complete my quota. Also finished a new story- still needs hellacious editing, but on the plus side it's shorter than I usually get. Next up I'm going to try a top-to-bottom restart on a story who's general concept I like but the execution blew.

And we'll finish off with a meme, stolen from donna_c_punk....

1. Comment on this post.
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Think of 5 fictional characters and post their names and your comments on these characters in your LJ.


donna_c_punk gave me the letter G. It was a bit of a tough one. Despite the letter being associated with some of my all time favorite characters, once you got beyond those, it was hard to think of any that qualified that I'd given much thought about at all. So, here we go... (images also under the cut for most of them)
( Read more... )

This week I got one book:

Runaways (vol 3) #1 (not perfect, but a promising start... dislike the art though)

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

Work was kinda late but it wasn't too bad otherwise, finished quickly.

Of course, I got home to find another writing rejection. Alas. :P.

Finished: Brain Rose, by Nancy Kress

Thoughts behind the cut. Not terribly spoilery, though, except for concept. Short version, meh. ( Read more... )

Started and Finished: The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester (Reread)
Started: Firestarter, by Stephen King (reread)

My thoughts on TDM are brief so I'll leave them uncut: Wasn't as good as I remembered, but still enjoyable. I'm surprised both at what I remembered from the last time I read it (years ago) and what I'd forgotten - certain weird aspects of the ending I'd completely forgotten about.

Finished: Iron Sunrise, by Charles Stross
Started: Sun of Suns, by Karl Schroeder

Thoughts on Iron Sunrise, no spoilers beyond concept ones. Short version: Liked it better than the first book. ( Read more... )

Oh, and another writing rejection showed up in my Inbox today. Meh. Not that I didn't expect it, though. Still, meh. :P.

So there's a new kitty around the apartment (since the same day I posted last about the possibility, things happened fast). He's not a baby, don't know exactly how old he is, but he's a smallish kitty, already litter trained, black. Cute guy, not the OMG cute of a baby kitty. Quite a lot of energy too, the other cat would never follow me into my room and this guy races me in there sometimes.

Anyway, on to other things:
Book Foo!

Finished: Probability Moon, by Nancy Kress
Started: Iron Sunrise, by Charlie Stross

Thoughts about Probability Moon behind cut, not terribly spoilery except general concept stuff. Quick thought: okay, not especially memorable.
( Read more... )

Finished: A Meeting At Corvallis, by S.M. Stirling
Started: Brain Rose, by Nancy Kress

Thoughts on A Meeting after the cut, not spoilery since I know some on my flist are reading the series. Short version: Not bad, a little flatter. Don't know how long I'll stick with the series, though.
( Read more... )

What else? Well, it's a writing cycle, but since I'm spending some of tomorrow helping my dad move some stuff out of storage, I figured I'd get a jump on it and... yesterday I completed the whole writing cycle. So I actually have a built in break, and it also helps provide me with a bit of practice for whenever I decide to up my word count goals. I've still been working on the novel-length project, which I've been doing for the last 5 cycles (making it, I think, officially my longest of those, not counting NaNo). So yay me.

And although I'm done with my writing quota, that doesn't mean I'll not be doing any writing... I'll still be working on editing and I'm also slowly working on two different projects I'm trying out in the comic form. One an ongoing idea I've had for a while, and another a sort of SF/Horror short (don't know exactly how long it would wind up being yet because it's still in the early stages, but I'd say 3 regular size comic issues feel about right so far). So we'll see how it goes.

We're also changing internet service providers and phone service, so if I drop out of contact, and the unlikely event that's noticed, that might be why. Not that I communicate on the phone at all, but something I suppose could screw up on the internet. We'll see. Possibly TV too, which would be somewhat more annoying, but at least it's summer so not much is on, and I could download anything that is.

I now have two separate short stories out trying to sell themselves for me at the same time. Yes, I know it took long enough. And really, not likely to get anything for either of them. But, the effort continues.

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).