Ain't NaNoOne's Business If I Do

This is pages 71 to 120 of my NaNoWriMo piece. I've cranked out another five pages tonight (I had another gig), but I gotta tell you. Week Three started out being the picnic that was promised in the book No Plot? No Problem!. But, it's killing me, now.

To be honest, I know why. That "Inner Editor" of mine, which believe it or not was more than content to sit quietly for two weeks, is now going, "Okay, you've had your fun. But, now you're just adding words for the sake of the word count and meandering nowhere--at least nowhere near the plotline."

In truth, there are only about two or three more scenes I need to wrap up the story and I'm pretty damn sure it's not 24,000 words worth of stuff. Anyway, I've decided on an uneasy compromise. I'm not going to write filler, but I've been trying to elaborate on all the background and exposition that I just haven't had the time to more skillfully work into the story. Then, I've done the same with some of the scenes I haven't written yet. It's frustrating to throw craft completely out the window, but that's what has to happen if I continue with the project within the spirit of the rules.

I guess I just have to accept that decision. If I want a submittable story by the end of the month, there's no reason I can't stop now and pare it down. But, I want to complete the project I signed up for.

Oh, and for the curious: 27,035/50,000 words, or 54%. I'm behind. I know. Stop yelling at me.

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NaNoNonsensical

I mentioned (Or, did I? My sense of time and place has become skewed for the past few weeks) having a temp gig three days last week. There was nothing today (though perhaps for tomorrow), so I had time to work on The Novel, Draft 0.9. I won't even give it the dignity of calling it a "first draft," because since last week, it's degenerated into a bastardization of narrative prose, blocks of text that resemble a Marvel Comics comic book script, and when I was too blocked to manage even that, plain notes.

I didn't believe it, but perhaps because my biorhythms are on their way back up (full moon is around the corner) the things I've been hearing about regarding a sort of Week Three NaNoWriMo quantum leap must be true, because it hit me. I managed to make up for a lot of lost time, despite some of the chores I got to today.

Right now, I'm at 21,502/50,000 words--43% to completion. Although, as bad as things have gotten, I don't even feel right about using the word "completion." Feels better to say "the goal." Anyway, when I wake up tomorrow, providing I don't have a temp gig, I'll be a hair's breadth over a single day behind where I should be on the 15th day of the month.

I leave you all tonight with an old article from comic book writer Warren Ellis, from a series of articles he did on, among other things, comic book writing. I read this ages ago and was pleased to find it again. It's sort of an encouragement (which is rare for him) to beginning writers. And, even though he's talking about comics, what he says easily applies to other forms of writing and jives a lot with what other people have to say about getting published. I would dare say it applies to anyone trying to succeed with his or her art.

But here's a secret.

95% of all writer's submissions are absolute [siht].

Seriously.

You want to impress an editor? Learn to spell. Lay out your pitch cleanly and elegantly. Be coherent. I knew of a writer who wrote the clearest, most lucid and beautifully structured synopses anyone had ever seen. The actual scripts, when they came in, was utter gibberish, made no sense at all, had plainly been written on acid. But the damn things were commissioned and paid for on the strength of clear pitches.

Be good. That's what'll capture an editor's attention. Because 95% of that pile of submissions next to them is inexcusably awful, and they know it. You will stand out from the crowd because there are no semen stains on your submission, because a cursory examination shows that you have a basic grasp of English, because it reaches for concision and appears professional in its approach, because the covering letter isn't headed "Dear Bastard." Etcetera.

There, doesn't that give you hope? All right, then--good night.

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Bad NaNoer, Bad NaNoer

I'm not really doing anything "bad" according to the NaNoWriMo rules. The point is word count, by any means necessary short of typing out "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" over and over like Nicholson did in The Shining. But, I've now resorted to what I feel are dirty tricks to keep myself at a decent pace (which is to say, two days worth of work behind).

In those spaces I feel stuck, I've resorted to putting things in brackets, like [Okay, right here is where I wanted to put the scene where the aliens stop the pickup truck, beam three of the four people on board, leaving the forth one who, for some reason, is able to resist the paralyzation beam and yadda yadda yadda.] (No, that appears nowhere in my "novel," but you get the point.)

But, tonight it was even worse. Rather than hammer out the scene I was working on, I just cobbled a transition into another scene I had planned that wasn't supposed to happen for at least one more chapter. Well, the one upside is that while I know I'm going to end up with something that's certainly not going to be confused with Proust, I know I'm making it good enough to have decent material that I can sift through later. Maybe pare down to something short that I can submit somewhere. Personally, I see nothing wrong with the thought of writing a "novella" as opposed to a novel, but if anything, I'd rather see a good 5,000 word submittable short story come out of this than a novel/novella that stands a snowball's chance of seeing the light of day.

I was sort of hoping to have a marathon session tomorrow, but I've been letting stuff slide around here. I made a half-assed attempt at housework when I got home just so I could scribble down what I got down tonight.

Since there isn't a counter anymore, I have to say that I'm at 15,064/50,000 words, or 30% toward completion.

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

You will probably win Nanowrimo - it's a brillant
opportunity to lord your mighty brains over
your less well-endowed friends. Whatever.


It's Nanowrimo Time! Will you reach 50K?
What kind of novel will you write?
brought to you by Quizilla

I was going to let this slide this week, between NaNoWriMo and a little temp gig I picked up. But, since the meter broke down (click the broken link over there--it's kind of sad, really), I wanted to mention that I'm at 14,335/50,000 words. That's 29%, and while it may sound impressive, I'm still running about two days behind schedule. The mathematics says I should be at 16,670 words by today, and while I could theoretically pull a James Joyce and ramble on for two thousand words in the next forty minutes, I ain't gonna.

Anyway, I gotta get to bed.

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Slackin' to the East, Slackin' to the West

Yeah, I slacked this weekend. I took the time to attend a reading by Pulitzer Prize-winning local author Alison Lurie. While her book really didn't interest me (at least, what I read of it), I guessed that she'd have a lot of interesting insights to share during whatever Q&A session that might take place, and I was right.

[Edited to remove the broken counter.]

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I Try to Walk Away and I Stumble

I did say that I'd blog less in November, although it just seems like I'm posting at the usual (dismal) rate :).

Seems like most of the people doing NaNoWriMo who keep blogs like to brag about how they're taking part. I was down with that. I even put the meter in the sidebar from an adjunct "this site is in no way officially affiliated with NaNoWriMo" website that a lot of people use. What I hadn't planned on doing is being one of those who complain about how their progress, or lack thereof, is kicking their a$$.

But, it's like I always say: Just when you start thinking you're unique, just remember that so is everyone else.

Yes, I've heard all the criticisms of NaNoWriMo, and even agree with some of them. So, please don't post them, or stock tips, or he/she/it pr0n ads, or anything else that would make me have to start doing all that comment verification/moderation stuff. I'm doing NaNo to get myself into the discipline of writing--seriously writing--first drafts. Period. I'm doing it for the same reason I still do the kata Taikyoku Shodan, because the basic, basic skills from that kata have translated directly into my ability to learn and to perform the skill sets from every martial art I've studied since TKD. Every one. If you can't use your hips, I don't care where your art is from; to you, it's worth two things, jack and siht.

But, I digress. I'm here to complain about my NaNoWriMo progress, or lack thereof.

I didn't do a lick of writing (for NaNo) today, although I spent a bit of time planning the novel out a little further. I seem to have written myself into a corner in that I hit the transition between Act I and Act II much earlier than I planned to. And now, the number of places I can go from here is starting to scare me into paralysis. I realize that it's entirely possible that I don't need what was left out, that it would just interrupt the flow that's already in motion. I can accept that, and maybe I have to.

In any case, I've got 3,334 words to do before I go to bed tomorrow night; difficult, but theoretically doable. I think I just need to keep going at this point. And then, I'll have to cope with what is apparently the notorious Week Two NaNoWriMo blahs.

On a more positive note, I have to say that seeing thirty-five pages of manuscript, devoted to a single piece, is nice.

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

Yes, I've got some nerve to be here after the last post, but I do this every week.

Fashionista 59% Tastefulness, 51% Originality, 67% Deliberateness, 45% Sexiness

[Tasteful Original Deliberate Prissy] One is certain: you have great taste and plenty of ideas. You have clearly defined beliefs about what's good and what's bad in fashion but they are far from banal. Stylish and imaginative, you prefer to inspire admiration than to shock and you mostly succeed. Even if sometimes you'd like to have more courage to put on something absolutely outrageous you do great job in creating a unique look that others look up to. There is a possibility that you work in the fashion industry. If you don't, perhaps you should. The opposite style from yours is Bar Cruiser [Flamboyant Conventional Random Sexy]. All the categories: Fashion Enemy Bar Cruiser Kid Next Door Sex Bomb Hippie Kid Fashion Rebel Fashion Artist Catwalk God(ess) Librarian Sporty Hottie Office Master Uptown Girl/ Boy Brainy Student Movie Star Fashionista Glamorous Soul

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 46% on Tastefulness You scored higher than 59% on Originality You scored higher than 93% on Deliberateness You scored higher than 40% on Sexiness

Link: The Fashion Style Test written by mari-e on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Would you believe that, aside from the flares and that short-sleeve vest thing, I could pretty much reproduce that male look?

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Blogging in November

There will probably be very little of it this month because of NaNoWriMo. It's Day 2, and I'm just on track. I was about 20% ahead of schedule last night, but hey. I had other things to do earlier today and Law & Order was on. Hey, where else can I catch actor Richard Brooks since good vs. evil was cancelled? (The character of Henry MacNeil is right behind Jim Kelly on the bad-assedness scale.)

Of course, now that I've opened the blogging door, watch this turn into a big procrastination tool.

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

The Cutting Edge (66% dark, 42% spontaneous, 15% vulgar)

your humor style: CLEAN | SPONTANEOUS | DARK Your humor's mostly innocent and off-the-cuff, but somehow there's something slightly menacing about you. Part of your humor is making people a little uncomfortable, even if the things you say aren't themselves confrontational. You probably have a very dry delivery, or are seriously over-the-top. Your type is the most likely to appreciate a good insult and/or broken bone and/or very very fat person dancing. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: David Letterman - John Belushi The 3-Variable Funny Test! - it rules - If you're interested, try my latest: The Terrorism Test

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 84% on darkness You scored higher than 35% on spontaneity You scored higher than 3% on vulgarity

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid

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Outage, Day 3

For the third day in a row, I've seen workmen out in the courtyard behind our apartment working on Teh Intarwub connection. Once again, Intarwub service gets restored for about an hour or two, then completely fails. I have to say that they appear to be trying. Today, I saw them replace whole components, and they still had troubles.

* * *
Unfortunately, that means I didn't get to finish listening to this episode of NPR's Talk of the Nation from last year about NaNoWriMo. I'd do it now, but I've got other things to be doing, not the least of which is getting ready for this thing.

* * *
How is it that Rupert Murdoch leans so far to the Right with his Fox News Channel, that he walks in circles and still manages to accomplish this?

4 Fox shows named worst for families
'War at Home,' 'Family Guy' lead list

Wednesday, October 19, 2005; Posted: 10:26 p.m. EDT (02:26 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Four Fox network programs, led by the comedies "The War at Home," "The Family Guy" and "American Dad," topped a parents group's annual listing of the worst prime-time shows for family viewing.

Between this and the whole Harriet Miers thing, I'm watching the Right eat itself up with almost pornographic interest.

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Outage

Teh Intarwub has been down at our place for the past two days, so I've had to leave to get online. Jaysus, it feels like I'm in Athens, again. So, that means I'm on the run, especially on Mondays and Tuesdays, when The Wife needs rides to and from work because of her irregular hours. I've sort of buried myself with deadlines and such for various projects, and I go ahead and take on another one, thanks to Datu_B.

I don't have high hopes of accomplishing 50,000 words between November 1st-30th, but it's a good excuse for me to work on this short story idea I had from a decade back that got too large and unwieldy for something under 5,000. But, will it stretch out to 50k? We'll see.

We went to a Halloween party in Rochester. (Yes--more weekend travelling. Jaysus.) I'm glad I went, though, because we had some nice costumes that weren't too expensive. All we needed were hats and accessories. Everything else came out of our closets, and like homemade presents, aren't those the best kind?

All right, now I gotta drive to the Library and return some books. Hopefully, I can find some more episodes of BBC's Coupling. Actually, there's one more task I need to get to first.

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Just Ignore

It seems that I let our free image-storage account on Ripway.com expire. I emailed them to reinstate them, but I've been meaning to do this anyway. I'm uploading a bunch of images to link to later.

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Seven Things

Since Mushtaq tagged me...

Seven Things I Will Do Before I Die

• Have a child
  
• Write and publish a book
  
• Find a way to get my black sash (i.e. permission to teach) in my old kung fu system.
  
• Complete my list of all the similarities between the techniques and principles of my old system and those I've learned studying FMA and dabbling in silat.
  
• Have enough martial arts knowledge to pass on to my child. Because few things are scarier than a Filipino descendant with a stick being asked "What system do you know?" and answering "Just some stuff I learned from the old man."
  
• Go to the Philippines and find an old GM to have at least one lesson. If none are living by the time I get to it, I'll settle for a first generation student.
  
• Finally learn how to play the jazz standard "Joyspring" on my trumpet. It's been a decade, and I still haven't mastered it.

Seven Things I Can Do

• Learn just about any skill if I'm apprenticed to the right person. I tell myself, "If I can learn kung fu, I can learn this..."
  
• Listen. Even now, the mental health counseling bug hasn't completely been eradicated from my system.
  
• Generally see the "big picture" or the general principles of a given thing, without necessarily needing every last detail.
  
• Hum along with the horn licks of every Chicago song from any album, all the way back to Chicago Transit Authority.
  
• Take care of my wife (I know I can do this, 'cos she told me so).
  
• Hang out comfortably with and feel accepted by lower-middle-class Appalachians in the morning, and rich, Liberal, semi-elitist snobs in the evening. It's all about how you listen to and talk with people.
  
• Stay calmer than average in a crisis situation. One of the lasting benefits of working in Residential Treatment.

Seven Things I Can't Do

• Stomach even a hint of the Filipino cultural "I'll-scratch-your-back-and-you're-an-ashsole-if-you-don't-scratch-mine" mentality. This is a bad thing, really, because I know I've actively avoided relationships with some people because of it. I have to work on that.
  
• Even think of the possibility of ever moving back to Euclid, OH.
  
• Play any tune done by Dizzy Gillespie or Charlie Parker (except for "Scrapple from the Apple" and bits of "Ornithology")
  
• Own a firearm (at least if I want to stay married)
  
• Address a Catholic nun any differently than I did in grade school, even ones closer to my age
  
• Transition cleanly back and forth between "right side" hubud into the "left side."
  
• Resist chicken wings
  

Seven Things I Say Most Often

• Whaaaaaaaat?
  
• Oh, no he/she didn't!
  
• [I've got/she'll get/he knows/you deserve/I owe you/etc.] two things: jack and $hit.
  
• Gotta put the game face on, baby.
  
• [What'd I get you for your birthday/for lunch/etc.] Twice as much as I got you last time.
  
• [In response to feeling screwed with] Motherfcuker's got the wrong one, today.
  
• Told you that btich crazy.

Seven People I Would Like To Pass This On To

You know how I am about spamming people ;), so I'll just open it up to the first seven people who want to do this either as a comment or on their own blogs (and leave a comment telling us all where to find it).

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

I'm going to do something different this week. An analysis in the mental health field usually involves a needs assessment. Because after all, there's no reason to just see where a person stands if you're not going to treat them in some way, right? Not financially feasible. Greedy insurance bsatards Anyway, here is a needs assessment according to Google.

Don needs to fire his barber.

Don needs a new ski handle for his favorite toy.

Don needs underlings

Don needs *professional* advice which will surely serve him better than the amateur variety.

Don needs to play the backyard.

Don needs more help weaving all these issues together in to a comprehensive work plan, and due to personal commitments for this week, will not be able to get it done for this funding cycle, but he will try to put together something quick and dirty.

Don needs a hug! Don needs a hug!

Don needs rhythm accompaniment about as much as a doctor needs pills.

Don needs you to volunteer time on his campaign.

Don needs to identify all the women who might be candidates and take the ultimate road trip of his life.

Don needs help picking out sweaters (he has absolutely no fashion sense)

Holding this belt for over 10 years, Don needs to step up against a hard hitting top ten contender, Gabe Carmichael to keep this record intact.

Don needs to continue with the current Dokken line-up.

Don needs help understanding strange sex acts

DON needs to be considered in the overall nitrogen balance of the region.

Don needs out of Portland and quickly.

Don needs to continue to balance the needs and rights of landowners with the need to protect the environment and Stearns County's precious resources.

Don needs his blue pills, no not those, his Xanax.

Don needs to handle it and not air his laundry in public.

Don needs to be tied up and punished!!

Don needs 35 apple pies for Saturday, October 16th’s Ham & Bean Supper.

Don needs stop using psychoactive substances and deal with real world and a world of made up intelligence.

Don needs to occasionally keep his mouth shut!

I remember telling Brian, when I was trying to describe Don's needs, "We're not quite to rubber sheets yet, but we're into Depends."

Don needs to ask the Chief if we should accept the $100.00 from the L'Amour Shoppe, which is an adult bookstore shop.

Don needs to go back to being Don the Obscure.

Don needs to add a London double decker bus and a B-52 bomber to go with his fleet.

Don needs something to calm the demons.

Don needs to quit playing, and pay them damn fees.

Every don needs a pinky ring in order to start a family.

Don needs to begin his drug education!

Don needs his high walls to keep the world out and the tears in.

Don needs to cover a mile of this alien landscape in less than 8 seconds.

Don needs to slink into the murky depths of the entertainment world before Xena the Princess of Truth can catch him red-handed making a profit.

Don needs desperately needs two things in this world: Booze, and anger management.

DON NEEDS TO GET AS FAR AWAY FROM THE INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE AS HE CAN GET - IN A BIG HURRY !!!

Don needs therapy....what a delusional fool.

Don needs a tissue.

Don needs his own show, immediately!

Don needs shooting.

Don needs to get up the energy to open the barn for a sale.

Don needs to show everyone he can squeeze out some shrimp.

I forgot where I picked this meme up. Just Google the phrase "(Your Name) needs" and see what pops up.

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Media Consumption

Between chores and more job searching (another interview hopefully this week!), I've been passing the time with:


American IV: The Man Comes Around definitely sounds like the album of a man who knew there weren't going to be many more albums. It's haunting. I literally can't listen to the whole thing in one sitting because of the all the pathos.

* * *
I've been dividing my time between Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies and Jonathan Lethem's The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye. There was a line in Lethem's story "Light and the Sufferer" that bothered me. I won't quote it analyze it, so as not to start any unnecessary roughness on my blog. Suffice it to say that there's every chance that I'm biased because of my continual exposure to the blog of Steve Barnes.

* * *



Flash - ah - Saviour of the universe
Flash - ah - He'll save ev'ry one of us
Flash - ah - He's a miracle
Flash - ah - King of the impossible

Come on, now. If you want a personal theme song, and you're upset that most everyone else has co-opted the "Theme from Shaft" and "Princes of the Universe," you can't get much better than this.

* * *
I'm sure most of you have read the reports, so I won't bother linking it. Stallone's mustered up the balls decided to finally go ahead with Rocky VI (followed, apparently by Rambo IV). I hope George Lucas is on board, because SFX are the only way you're going to convince me a 59-year old man is going to put on a show in any kind of boxing ring. Datu_B and I were talking about this yesterday: Wasn't the character of Rocky Balboa washed up in Rocky V? As far as story continuity, I better see people in skinny ties and rolled-up suit sleeves. I'm sort of glad Talia Shire isn't in this one. Maybe she learned her lesson from Godfather III. Hey, I liked that movie, but that didn't change the fact that it couldn't go more than three minutes without a reference to the first two films.

All right, that's enough for now.

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Why Wasn't I Told About This?

Lookee what the Electronic Frontier Foundation done found:

Secret Code in Color Printers Lets Government Track You

Tiny Dots Show Where and When You Made Your Print

San Francisco - A research team led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recently broke the code behind tiny tracking dots that some color laser printers secretly hide in every document.

The U.S. Secret Service admitted that the tracking information is part of a deal struck with selected color laser printer manufacturers, ostensibly to identify counterfeiters. However, the nature of the private information encoded in each document was not previously known.

The article has links to a list of printers they've researched as well as how to see the dots (of course, it's not easy).

The Secret Service quickly admitted to it, which sort of tells me that they're telling the truth about how it's only currently used to fight counterfeit. "What," you're saying. "You believe the gub'ment?" First of all, the "code" was easy enough for an EFF intern to crack. Second, I truly believe that if the gub'ment wanted this to remain a secret badly enough, this post would be about how some mysterious worm destroyed all of the EFF's computers, instead of dots. Which may yet happen, as people discover more ways your technology can rat you out.

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Biorhythms

For years, I've noticed that in the week preceding a full moon, my physical biorhythm always sinks. I mention the full moon as a point of reference, not as any sort of implication. No matter how much or how little I do, I feel drained that week. What's weird is how it sneaks up on me 95% of the time. I wonder why I don't feel like doing a damn thing, why everything seems like such a struggle, and when I start to feel better I look up, and there it is.

Anyway, I think I was it harder this past week as I was recovering from both illness and travel. Speaking of recovery, my dad was briefly in the hospital again last week for a pre-scheduled procedure. He's doing great!

Ok, as promised last post, there will be stuff to btich blog about...

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

It's been a week, and between sickness and traveling and more sickness, I'm feeling a bit more like myself. I have been feeling better, but I swear this thing is moving up and down my body. First my head, then my throat, then my lungs, and yesterday, to my stomach. So, I apologize for the lapse. When was the last time you saw two weekly personality analyses back to back? Don't worry, I've got lots to btich blog about.

But, until then, I said I've been feeling a bit more like myself. What does that feel like this week?


Destiny - You are mature and saddled by
responsibility. Sometimes you seem cold because
of this. You need to learn to have fun and
loosen up.


Which one of Sandman's Endless are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

Sorry, it's late, but yesterday was the first day I've felt like myself in a week. And, I had exactly 12 hours to enjoy it, because we hosted a friend of E's from Columbus last night and this morning. He's on a trip to Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in Woodstock, NY and stopped here to spend the night, take us to dinner, and to visit another similar place about five miles from here on his way to KTD.

And, today, I get to finish getting things ready for another long-@$$ road trip to Cleveland to see my folks. It sounds mean, but I probably wouldn't go if my father hadn't been in the hospital in early September and if he wasn't due to go back in (for some "routine" procedures) late next week. The Columbus Day weekend is really the only time between when we saw them last and the holidays. The Wife really wanted to see them, too. Now, let me add the disclaimer :) --The Wife in no way pressured or intimidated me into going. I am solely responsible for choosing to go over my own protests ;). I take full responsibility for the resulting effort and stress which will undoubtedly make me relapse next week.

Okay, time for me to take The Wife to work, come back and see our guest off, get the car ready, get my stuff ready, get... Oh, here's the test already, for Pete's sake.

Don took the Which Star Wars droid are you? quiz, and is clearly R5-D4.

R5-D4 What can be said about you. Hardly anyone even knows who you are, and yet your very purpose in life is of paramount importance. You mostly keep to yourself and ponder your existence in this Mechanical Coil. You believe in the power of self-sacrifice. Whenever you're sad, you watch Amélie and feel better. Seriously, without you, most of Star Wars would never have happened. So bravo!

Enjoy the weekend named after one of the chief pawns of the Colonial Oppressor! ;)

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The Joys of 10 Hours of Sleep

I feel like I'm just barely over the worst of whatever's ailed me. This is just how I felt as a child when I would be sick of being sick and wanted to go play outside. And, then I would and end up relapsing. So, I'm just going to chill out and go back to bed after lunch. I've only been up two hours, and I'm still damn tired. My abs have been getting quite the workout though, what will all the coughing I've been doing.

The Wife and I were much too far gone yesterday to drive to Rocha-cha to see Serenity. (I've been meaning to ask just why people call Rochester that. On second thought, I don't want to know). We did make ourselves go out and see it at the movie theater across the way from our place, though. I might not have wanted to contaminate our friends, but I'm Chaotic Evil--what do I care about total strangers ;)?

Serenity was good. I think just enough work was done where you didn't necessarily have to have seen Firefly to understand what was going on. Sure, there was a lot of shorthand for things that originally took 12 episodes to go through. But, everything the audience needed to see was in there in just the right proportion to achieve what Whedon probably wanted to achieve, storywise.

So, what didn't I like? Eh, nothing I couldn't cope with, really. But, did Chiwetel Ejiofor have to dress up like Blade at the end, for pete's sake? Plus, I'm all for twists and shocks, but cram three or four together, and I'm going to think you're just yanking my chain. That's all, really. I'll probably get all of Firefly and this film on DVD.

I'm going to watch the episode of Everybody Hates Chris that I... procured... the other day (since there's no UPN affiliate in Ithaca). Then I'm going to sleep for another ten hours.

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