My weekend film festival and randomocity

So, one of my plans for the weekend was to watch my personal top three all-time favorite films.

I had a bit of an issue, though, as I can't find my copy of my number two film, Casablanca. It's around here somewhere, I know, but it got misplaced when I moved. Dammit.

So, I'm replacing my (current) number 2 film with my (current) number 5 film, Sunshine.

So, here's the list of films I'm seeing, in reverse order of their spots on my list, and remembering that while Sunshine is number 2 on the list it's actually number 5. Confused yet?

• John Carpenter's The Thing
• Sunshine
• Alien (director's cut)

I'm sure you've all seen the first one on my list. Who hasn't? It came out in 1982 but it holds up really well--there are only a couple of places where the effects let the film down, and those were there when it originally came out. This film is, no question, a horror film, and it's great on a number of levels. The mystery of the creature at the heart of the movie--what is it, really? Why is it here?

I know some attempts were made to answer those questions in the prequel--if you pay attention you'll see, when they're on the alien ship, that it looks like there had been some sort of conflict on-board. The story is, the ship was collecting specimens from all over the galaxy, as part of a scientific expedition, and the thing escaped from its containment. The ship crashed in Antarctica during the crew's struggle to contain it. As to whether or not I like that idea--I'm ambivalent about it, really. Watch that film, too, if you haven't, and make up your own mind.

Sunshine--directed by Slumdog Millionaire's director, Danny Boyle, is one of those films that nobody seems to know about for some reason. It's sort of a rare thing--it's about a desperate mission to save humanity by reigniting our sun, which is in the process of going out. Many people have problems with the final act--they think it tried to change from a science fiction film to something else at the end--and I can see that. But, personally, I don't mind it. It's a beautiful film, with an amazing soundtrack. No, it's not perfect, but I recommend it to you. This one is pure science fiction, with a few overtones of horror that become a bit more prevalent at the end.

And, of course, Alien. Number one on my list, the only one that never changes position and will probably never be dethroned in my personal list of favorites. I'm going to watch the director's cut, which has several minutes of footage not seen in theaters. I know you've seen it already, but watch it again. It's the source material for my nightmares, the springboard for my imagination, my inspiration, the benchmark that I strive for when I sit down to write something. To me, it's a perfect film, undeniably horror even though it's set on a space ship--it's essentially a haunted house story set in space. Still, I find it terrifying, even now, and I'll probably have nightmares about it again tonight.

Which is fine with me, actually.

Other than my film festival I'm doing some house cleaning, as I'm expecting some company in the next few days.

No, I haven't done any writing at all, though I've done some thinking about writing, and made some decisions, and will be resuming work on my own stuff in a bit.

So, watch the above films yourself, if you haven't already. Enjoy the nightmares.

Okay, pardon my rant

I'm just sick of people right now. Right-wing Conservative Americans, in particular.

Every news feed I check is full of hatred towards gays, minorities, the poor, and women these days. Every one of these people will claim to be a Christian, too. Yet they consider people who have a different skin color, gender, or sexual orientation, or people who are living in poverty to be subhuman and not worth any sort of legal protections.

Okay. I'm not a Christian, but I used to be. I've read the Bible, cover-to-cover, five times in my life. So, these people who claim that their hatred is based on the Bible, apparently haven't read it. At least, not all of it--there's an awful lot between Leviticus and Revelations. Look, you call yourself Christians, right? Why? Is that because you claim to follow Christ? Then, why don't you? Just read the damned book for yourself, and then do what Christ is supposed to have said. And, if you decide that what's in that book is not what Christ meant, or if you decide that this is not what your religion is all about, then you need to call yourself something else, because you are not Christian--you aren't following what you claim to follow by your own definition.

What really baffles me is all the hate directed at poor people. While Christ never addressed homosexuality at all, he did address poverty. For the record, he was against it. His position was diametrically opposed to the opinions I'm seeing from the people who claim to follow him. Go and read it for yourself.

The sad thing is, the people the above rant is directed at will not have any clue that it applies to them. That, in the end, is what makes me feel so tired, down to the very core of my being--the hatred directed towards other human beings, with some stupid religion as justification, and the complete blindness towards the hypocrisy of it.

I'm climbing off my soapbox now. And, no, I'm not interested in debate. So, if this pisses you off at me, piss off yourself, because I'm not interested in your opinion.

'maters!

I'm really enjoying working with pastels.  Just did this picture today.

 

These are two of three tomatoes I used as models a few days ago. The reason there are only two now? I ate one on a salad (my famous chicken honey mustard salad, FYI).

 

Anyways, I know it ain't perfect and I'm sure any competent artists out there who see this are probably cringing, but for me this is pretty damned good.

 

OK, just wanted to share.  

The joys of doing stuff we absolutely suck at

I'm working on what is (for me) a pretty ambitious painting--illustrating a scene from my short short story, "Far From the Sun."

Though you may not be able to figure this out if you see it, even if you've read the story (posted here a while back). That's because I'm not a great painter. Probably never will be.

Sure, I do get a little better with every picture. Every one teaches me something new. If I concentrated on it, took classes, bought some more books on painting, I'd probably get a lot better a lot quicker.

But that's not why I do it. I know I suck at it. I'll probably always suck at it. I'm sure the stuff I'm doing now is better than the stuff I did a few months ago, but it'll never be something someone would pay money for.

I know this. And I'm okay with it. I don't do it for that.

The simple fact is, painting pictures is fun. Putting that brush to that canvas is fun. Mixing the colors on the palette is fun. Watching the picture--hideous as it may turn out to be--form on the canvas is fun!

Kids love to make art, and it's nice to be reminded why. Try it yourself. Get some watercolors and some paper and some brushes. Maybe pick up a book that'll give you the basics. Or watch some videos on painting on YouTube.

It's especially useful when you are trying to concentrate on something, like me trying to plot out these novels. It sort of frees up my mind, lets the ideas start flowing unimpeded from my subconscious to my conscious mind so I can start working with them. It's relaxing and invigorating at the same time.

Try it. You'll see. Maybe, if you try really hard, you'll suck at it as much as I do.

And you also won't care. Just like me.

Doing laundry waiting on the maintenance guy randomocity

So, I'm sitting here, hoping there's a knock at my door any minute now--the maintenance guy coming by to unclog the drain in my bathtub. Since it's Saturday, and this really isn't an emergency, I'm not entirely confident that will happen today. But, you never know. I'd like to get it out of the way.

The plan for the weekend--create a basic overall plotline for each of the five novels that The Sorcerer's Daughter has now become, paint another painting in the Wallflowers series, and slip out to see Man of Steel tomorrow morning.

I did get some good news last night--my goddaughter has booked another commercial! She's very excited about it, as is her mom, and, of course, her godfather.

And I'm off Monday, but that's because of a routine doctor's appointment that morning. I usually just take the whole day when I have one of those. It's just less stressful for me, since I don't have to worry about going back to work afterwards. And my blood pressure is usually lower, too, because I'm not going to my appointment from work.

I did fool around with pastels a couple of days ago and did this quick pic of some tomatoes. Not bad, if I do say so.

 

Unfortunately, I was unable to restrain myself from continuing to futz around with it and totally screwed it up. I'm glad I took some photos of it beforehand.

 

Here's another painting in the Wallflowers series. I was pretty proud of this one. Turned out about like I was hoping it would.

 

 

 

 

I want to do two more, including the one I'm planning to start this weekend. Let's hope they turn out to be worth displaying. Or at least photographing and posting here.

 



 



And the one became many . . .

So, I've figured out what I need to do with The Sorcerer's Daughter.

I'm going to redo it, this time as five books instead of just one. I've actually suspected I was going to have to do that all along, but I have now resigned myself to it. The story in one book just wasn't giving me enough room to explore this world and develop the characters and the story like I wanted.

Yes, it's going to be a lot of work. But that's why we do this writing thing, right? We do it because we love doing it!

Anyways, here's a list of the potential titles. Subject to change.

• The World Between
• The Realm of the Rats
• The Battle at the End of Time
• The Crier in the Darkness
• The Sorcerer’s Daughter

Going to start plotting these things out in more detail in the next couple of days--simply arriving at this decision has made me feel really tired.

For the record, I have written multiple books in a series before--or, rather, co-written them, in a series of unpublished novels I developed with a friend years ago. So, I know I have it in me. Though I was a lot younger then, and drinking an awful lot.

So, wish me luck! I'll publish details as they become relevant.

Finding the motivation?

I haven't written a word on the novel in a week or so now.

I don't know why. The material still excites me. I think what I've done so far is pretty good and the idea is a very good one that will resonate with a significant audience.

It's just the sitting down and banging away on it that's the issue. I don't know why. I guess some of it may have something to do with the hell I'm about to put my protagonist through--I'm coming up on the part where she takes a major step towards losing her innocence. I find this a bit upsetting.

Which is stupid, I know, getting all that worked up about the emotional trauma of someone who doesn't even exist. But she's real to me and that makes it difficult.

Oh, well. I'll get over it. I'll write this thing, and I think, because I cringe when I think about what I'm about to do, I'll overcompensate and make it a lot more discomforting than it probably should be for the reader. Which is a good thing, actually, as it's much easier to go in later and back something down than it is to go in and amp something up.

I hope the above makes sense. I haven't been sleeping very well. I've been dozing off on the couch almost every night but I'm wide awake when I go to bed. This really sucks.

At least I've been able to paint. Not that my paintings are all that good, but the simple act of painting is so much fun it almost doesn't matter. It reminds me of when I did that stuff when I was a kid, and it reminds me why kids love art---because, over and above all the noble ambitions you might assign to someone's work, the simple fact is painting, sculpting, drawing, etc., is fun.

Oh, you are watching Hannibal on NBC, right? Thursday nights, 10 p.m. Eastern Time. If not, you should be. It is quite extraordinary.  The last episode was almost too intense.

So, I'm gonna get off my ass and get busy writing this thing. Tomorrow. Dammit.

A weekend, plethora of projects randomocity

I found a really nice Callas Lilly at Publix this morning. Bought that sucker and will be using it as a model for a painting I'm going to attempt tomorrow. I got some small stretched canvases and I plan to use them for a little series of paintings of various flowers--they'll all be close-up views of the blooms. I plan to call it Wallflowers.

That's assuming that what I do doesn't suck so bad I just toss it. I'm still new at this.

So, today I have to get the canvas prepped by applying gesso to it, letting it dry, then applying more gesso. Three coats, altogether.

I've also now made peach cobbler twice, after never having made it even once before this week. The first one turned out really well, too.

 

It was just a tad dry. Next time I used more peaches and it's perfect.

 

 

I'm just past the mid-way point of The Sorcerer's Daughter, and I'm sort of catching my breath before getting into the really deep stuff. My hero is about to finally completely lose her innocence. This is a big deal to me, really--I like this girl. And I'm about to put her through hell. She'll come out of it much stronger and wiser--but she'll also be more aloof, downright cold, and cynical. The shattered fragments of her innocence will remain but they'll be spread throughout her soul, unable to find each other and put themselves back together again.

 

 

Which, I suppose, is as it should be.

 

 

Looks like we might catch the tail-end of that storm system that's hammering Oklahoma and Missouri. Hopefully for us it won't be all that bad, but you never know. I'm hoping after this system passes we'll all catch a break for a while.

 

 

Oh. Laundry. It's Saturday, so I'm doing laundry. Like always.