chrryblssmninja

Roundup for the first three months of 2014:
I wrote reviews of Boardwalk Empire season 4, Dhalgren, Navidad & Matanza, and True Detective season 1.

The top two movies I watched happened to be from India: The Lunchbox (Dabba) (2013) and Pyaasa (1957).

As for books, my favorites were Bernardo Axtaga's Obabakoak and NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names. Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries was pretty exciting to read for the first 700 pages, like a more clear-eyed version of Victorian multi-character melodrama, but after that the fated-luck-astrology themes were a bit much, even if the book was structured around them. The story's  good overall, though, so if the TV miniseries version actually gets made, I might give it a try. The opening six-story run in John Ajvide Lundqvist's Let the Old Dreams Die is great; after that the quality goes up and down until the solid novella sort-of-sequel to Let the Right One In. I also started reading the brilliant Moomin comic strips, and appreciated Joseph McElroy's experimental A Smuggler's Bible as a whole..

( TV episodes watched from January through March 2014 )

I HAVE FINISHED THE THIRD DRAFT OF MY NOVEL!!!

I also earned pay raises at my two part-time/temp jobs. If only they were full-time!

My list of five favorite classic cinematographers was posted on YAM-Mag!

and yesterday I managed to make a run on the construction-filled UC Davis campus, from the Mondavi Center to the Memorial Union, in seven minutes! Wearing Keds-type shoes! so I could feel pebbles and construction gravel through my shoes! but it didn't matter! because I was blasting Nico Vega's "Beast" on my phone in my bag! and I managed to catch the bus before the driver left one minute before he was supposed to leave!

This week, I made a ton of sales at my subscription calling job, and everyone tried to catch up, haha. Also, one of my co-workers thought I was meowing and another coworker suddenly started meowing "Eye of the Tiger" and then belted "it's the- meow of the tiger, it's the thrill..."
...yup. Singing is one of the ways we dealt with the stress of possibly not making goal this week. but some of us stayed a little later and then we beat goal.
Later, I joined a coworker in singing "Under the Sea" and had a braintwin moment with another coworker about Elmo's goldfish in "Elmo's World." We also had enough food this Saturday to put together a good lunch to eat while calling.



Too bad I wasn't able to see Arsenal win twice this week too.

Until the last episode, I wasn’t 100% sold on Hannibal. Now everything is people and nothing hurts- except the possibility of no second season.
Too bad Southland will not have a sixth season, though. I can see the season finale as a series finale, but it’s quite the gloomy series finale. I WANTED HAPPINESS AND REDEMPTION ARCS

One of the film blogs I follow has added my film blog on its link sidebar! (scroll up in comments)

I did update my film blog… with a post on TV shows. Here’s my comparison of Hannibal, Utopia, and Les Revenants (Rebound). It’s sort of vague due to my policy on not stating major spoilers. I’m worried that my writing sounds pretentious. Oh well, as long as I picked the right words to describe things. Specificity over style.

I also reviewed the new Pulitzer Prize-winner for fiction, The Orphan Master’s Son.

Job-wise, I’m back on the subscription calling campaign from 4:30 PM - 8:30 PM, M-Th, and 10:30 AM - 2:30 PM, Saturdays. I had realllllly hoped to be in a career position where I didn’t have to take the job again, but at least the boss and coworkers are good people and the job’s better than most. We’ve also switched from a paper system to a computer-based system, so at least that’s a variation. I’m getting antsy with life right now and I don’t know how I could have handled doing the exact same thing for another 4+ month campaign. Still have my (very limited) part-time telecommute job; also looking for something additional, temporary or permanent, full-time or at least with more hours.

After I finish a short story and a few articles for other blogs, I’ll start on the third draft of my novel.

I liked Being Human UK's fifth series premiere. The funny parts made me laugh, and Mr. Rook is an intriguing addition.
I think it's fine to end the show with this series, and I liked both casts ok.

ELEMENTARY!!! THREE GOOD EPISODES IN A WEEK! :D

Hoping to finish the first season of Les revenants today so I can write a review and have my YAM editors post a) before they start the '90's blogathon on the site and b) so I can link to it when applying for this job.

Writing, either for the sites I link to in writing samples, or typing out my novel draft, has kept me from watching as many movies as I used to. I still watch TV, but that's due to feelings of time urgency on my part. Taking screencaps also teaches me how form can echo themes in content.
gosh Criterion has some good movies up for free viewing on Hulu that will expire in a day or two.

I did just receive a good rejection letter for a piece I submitted last year to a writing contest. It was a repackaging of some of the first few parts of my novel, so this feedback will be very useful:
We found this piece to be extremely good conceptually, but currently very hard for the reader to follow the story (due in large part to the volume of scene changes.) We really began to lose the thread at the beginning of the second section, when we are bombarded with names – Iris, Xan, William, Virgil. From there it became difficult to sort out the relationships. Finding a way to simplify might help this, and the core of the story is there. Just a little refinement and this could be a great piece.
I must keep this in mind. The concept is telling a story through dreams, and high concepts must have strong structure and a good entry point for accessibility. The higher the degree of experimentation, the greater the need for a strong foundation. Once I finish typing out what I've handwritten (I'm at 21,000 words now out of 50,000+ words), I can focus on craft.

This is my Olympic games icon.




I was surprised to find out that I had both top dollar amount and dollar per hour rate for last week! I haven't sold anything yet this week, though.

This song brought me back into a tango kick that led me to listening to the random tango tracks on some of the mixtapes I made on tape cassette years ago. I had to fix the tape when some of it caught caught in the player! After fixing it, I gloated to my brother. Can you fix a tape cassette? Can you? mwhahahahaha

Go read and comment on my life in movies! I picked one movie for each completed year of my life.

As for my novel project, I just passed the 30,500 word mark. Not great pace, but at least I'm getting words on paper every day. The novel's supposed to be told entirely through the dreams of characters, so it's a struggle figuring out how to make it true to the nature of dreams while still getting the actual plot points across.

a video I made about Davis and Woodland

please forgive the rush job of a voiceover I did





a story I wrote back in October. One of those bizarre metafiction blends that I can't totally figure out. I edit them more like prose poems than narratives.

( written sort of for Halloween )

Happy Birthday to fab4eva and miladygrey!



I'm now a book reviewer for the online magazine Yet Another Magazine! My first review, of the Fantômas books, is here.

I wore my Arsenal shirt outside today.

Game of Thrones was good.

My family got TFC (The Filipino Channel) last week and I'm tired of the same promos playing repeatedly.

Here is a horse I saw on Saturday.




I have some cool ideas for short stories about assassins. However, as you might tell from this post, I can only write a little at a time.


Finally, via buongiornodaisy:




ETA: Mike Relm made a Doctor Who remix!

orig fic orig fic what?



First two, then four, then more. The pregnant women started appearing in the stairwells and alleys of Organ Row, waiting for the treatment. I didn't pay much attention until the murders began.

It was either the mothers - or a mother's "placenta pimp" - killing off the competition. Any not-rich woman that wanted to have a child would have to flee to the countryside, far from any facility that did the treatment. Who knew if you were going to beat her price?

They were suspicious women. Most of them pale beings fearing the slightest touch of sun. I don't think it mattered if the mother was pale, but I bet customers would argue differently.

There were the medical repair uses, of course, but the rich people who paid for those things preferred keeping within bloodlines. No, the biggest payer was the cosmetics industry. It had started in Asia. I don't know if animal placenta was used at first. But I've often heard that it's a big thing in Asia to have white skin. Wasn't long before women and some men sought out products with placenta, believing that it would make their skin as untanned and smooth as that of the babies that provided it.

Before long, I was guarding my mother, day and night. Hid a shotgun under the counter, slid weapons into the shelves. We barred the windows on the inside, and I'd put off virtual school until the nights. I had to wait after closing the store for Father to come home from work. I'd be on the ready while he opened the lock, making sure no one could attack him from behind. Then we'd go to the back, lock a second door, set a barrier, and walk upstairs to our home.

Then came that month's Teacher Day. No way I could avoid this and stay home. We called my cousin to take over guard duties. I was a little worried during class, but I thought I could at least trust my cousin to do her best.

I should have wondered about one thing, though, while this month's teacher lectured us on "Math and its Mysteries."
Why was my cousin was wearing more expensive clothes than usual?



In our language, the baby's name would have meant, "Golden Boy."




idea based on this thread with tresca


also help from this article.


I think I might expand this into a longer story. Maybe title it, "Youth."

Hi people. It‘s Linkspam Weekend!!!
As always, not LJ-cutting in case anything catches your interest.

Messthrough ‘07
The revised letter to LJ/Six Apart that you can sign with a comment.
Via logovo1: What! Links aren’t safe either? You’re going back on your word, LJ.
Also from logovo: A different view on the matter.

Heroes
Season 2 preview! Guaranteed to elicit reactions of “wow” and “what?”
Hints on new villains
Hey, it’s Sark n’ Sylar! Hey, David Anders, smile better! You’ve just been promoted to series regular!
On a different tangent, Spock meets Spock!
Masi Oka: ''When Zach and I would hang out, he'd have a rubber band over his fingers, practicing his muscle. We've come up with ways to practice — wiggle the fingers, doing yoga for the hand.... He's been practicing for about a month. I'm betting on him. He'll get it down.''
Quinto will go MIA during a chunk of the upcoming season to film Star Trek (the logistics were hammered out between Lindelof and Heroes creator Tim Kring, who are old friends)
Meanwhile Milo’s in “A Mall World”, doing his best Conor Oberst impression to date.

TARDISverse
Snatched from miladygrey: Doctor Who macros sing Buffy’s “I Have a Theory.”
For more macro fun, here’s one from colonials, the best macro site in the 13 colonies.
Lego Torchwood?
John Barrowman’s Scottish accent

Leftover TV Dinner
Vote in Kristen’s Tater Top awards!
Interview with Jack McBrayer, who plays Kenneth (!) on 30 Rock.
Buffy’s Jonathan is now a screenwriter!
John Krasinski as a kid
Spy on Chuck

Soccer
Becks makes respectable debut, but Galaxy still lose
Is it weird that when I see the headline “Beckham makes MLS debut as Galaxy fall to United,” I think Man United first?
Oh, and Becks vs. Zidane in Sydney game?
Volzy stuck in the toilet?
Footballers when they were young (hee Iker) and more fun footballer pics.
LolKakas!
And via der_schnix: Great Bundesliga article
Best player
Diego: 13 goals, 100 assists (roughly), a bit of magic and spades of imagination. Yay!
Best form of dissent
Willy Sagnol to referee Markus Merk: "Ref, we'll substitute."
Merk: "I don't see your sub."
Sagnol: "No, we're substituting you." Great job, Surly Sagnol!
The Ashley Cole Award for super secretive contract negotiations: Miroslav Klose
Waaaah…I shall get over this. See my icon? That is my coping icon. I AM COPING!
Unfortunately, his young and inexperienced agent couldn't get the phone to ring so in the end the only option was to look south. Interesting…
From nolwe: Arsenal posing with white kit, interviews with Tomas and Theo.

Music
Amy Winehouse rushed to hospital and now sent to rehab, while Lily Allen is detained at airport and and needs chicken soup. Oh, and Keith Richards really did snort his dad’s ashes.
Via Buzzgrinder: “Jamgate is live; a web-based app for musicians to manage, sell and distro their music without the commission that is usually charged on other sites.”
Free Flight of the Conchords MP3: Business Time. Through that link you can also listen to their new EP, The Distant Future.
La Blogotheque made Sufjan Stevens perform on a roof.
The Arctic Monkeys perform dressed as clowns.
Make sure your stomach’s strong before you watch this super weird vid for Klaxon’s “Magick.” Seriously, green stuff spurts from their eyes.
Treasure Island gets its own music festival! Ooh, look at Saturday…Gotan Project, DJ Shadow, MIA, Dengue Fever, Honeycut…On Sunday they’ve got Modest Mouse and Spoon. I’d want to go Saturday, but tix are expensive. But their green measures seem sound…
In October, there’s Vegoose in Vegas. Set to play are: Queens of the Stone Age, Muse, the Shins, UNKLE, Gogol Bordello, Battles, Iggy & The Stooges to offer up a track-by-track retelling of Fun House, and more
Speaking of Battles, check out the cool vid for Atlas. They just might make Math Rock accessible to the masses! Or at least the indie masses. Download “Leyendecker” here.
You must watch these Cold War Kids performances. In the second one just watch where they end up. Wow. I hope those people weren’t in a rush to go anywhere. Also, the video for "Hospital Beds". Editing is fast but not dizzy, some cheesy shots but overall alright. Wow, Nathan Willett is buff.
The Section Quartet: A violin quartet that plays versions of The Strokes, “London Calling,” Radiohead, and more. Download their cover of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Phenomena” here.
Daytrotter has new sessions by Sondre Lerche and White Rabbits. White Rabbits White Rabbits yay yay oh my gosh my fave White Rabbits song just started to play on my media player how awesome how freaky but song’s still awesome
Also great: bittersweet_bun has uploaded both Sakuran, the film that Shiina Ringo scored, and Heisei Fuuzoku, a new album “inspired by” the film. Check them out here. Heisei Fuuzoku consists mainly of orchestral/jazz covers of older Shiina songs, but in “Karisome Otome” she incorporates tango in way reminiscent of one song from Moulin Rouge (same message, too). But it is so much better and less gimmicky and -faints- Just when I thought I couldn’t appreciate Shiina more, she makes a tango song. -stands up, sighs, faints again-
More apple goodness via shiinaringo_: Tokyo Jihen- Killer Tune Now that’s what happy chipmunk-voiced J-pop should sound like!
And if you’re looking for a nice, soft summer song, listen to Melody Day by Caribou (formerly known as Manitoba).

Dispatches from Cloverfield
more news
From cleolinda: New Cloverfield trailer?
Video and photos from the set

Movies
Carla Gugino in Watchmen
Trailer for We Own the Night, which features Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg as brothers on opposite sides of the law.
Becoming Jane’s historical merit
Ridley Scott talks Monopoly movie
Lego Indiana Jones?
Via foresthouse: Light Fantastic and Color of Magic to be movies? I only found about the Hogfather movie when I was walking and talking around Palo Alto with point_earedpain. Pratchett talks about the projects.
And yes, there really is a movie called The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? Yup, you read that punctuation right.
Clip from the Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There leaked: Watch Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan meeting Allen Ginsberg.
Trailer for Wes Anderson’s latest: Darjeeling Limited, starring Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzbaum, and Adrien Brody as brothers.

Science and its fictional counterpart
Quadruple sunsets are possible!
How to sell Sci-Fi, according to Buffy writer Jane Espenson.
While, via officialgaiman, an article on SF in China: part 1, pt 2 (In the early eighties, the Party considered Sci-fi an evil, which could lead the public astray. All sci-fi writing across China ceased), pt 3.
"Sci-Fi writing is now supported by Chinese government as it is considered to be a genre that can inspire the whole nation's ability to think imaginatively and popularizes science nationwide, "
Does time exist?
Via anthropologist: The truth about The Donner Party

Random
Are Canadians just smarter than us?
Universal’s Back to the Future ride is closed
At least the LJ main page is still recommending great comms. Really, awesome_places post some really awesome places.
Beijing’s eco-experiment
Christopher Walken cooks.
"It is not proper to sell soft drinks or snacks right at the toilets"
Those two last links have nothing to do with each other.
Secret of levitation revealed?
Bad Thai cops to wear Hello Kitty armbands
Xkcd strikes gold again: Aeris Dies.
Edgar Simic new US poet laureate

And finally, from logovo1 (again): Slaughter Your World, the best Little Mermaid parody ever. From the gamer webcomic Looking for Group. The clip premiered in this post. I really want to read the comic from the beginning now.

So… 3 Buffy mentions, 3 British musicians in trouble, 2 Lego mentions, 2 articles on China, 3 macro links (two for Doctor Who), 2 trailers for movies centered on brothers, 2 articles about food, and 1 article on legendary cannibals.
Have a great weekend. Sorry if I hurt your flist-scanning eyes.