I'm enjoying Day 2 of a 5-DAY WEEKEND!!! WOO-HOO!
The end of 2010 was a bitch, and I knew I would have to burn a couple of Vacation days to recover and start 2011 fresh. But this year, instead of just grabbing the first days of the year that were available, I bid my time a planned a bit...I intend to have a Rough Draft of Brian's & my novel finished by April Fools' Day. So I am taking Monday and Tuesday off as Vacation days, in hopes of getting further with the novel.
My reasoning, when I concocted my scheme, was that by mid-February I would have a clearer impression of what was keeping me from finishing (the writing problems that lay in my path). I believe my reasoning was sound! Had I taken 2 days off last week, the novel would have had a less Comedy tone and a more Action/Adventure thrust.
Still, as of today (Saturday), I haven't done much actual writing work. Brian & I have had a VERY useful discussion about the story!!! That's awesome!!! But yesterday was about blowing off steam, and today has been about necessary tasks: I got my car inspected, got the oil changed, and sent off the payment to get my car registered. So YAY! there!!! :)
Currently, I am enjoying some drinks as I listen to the audiobook version of Murder, She Wrote: The Maine Mutiny. (I am so obsessed with Murder, She Wrote lately that I bought all the audiobboks from Audible.com. What's wrong with me? Is it because I just turned 39 for the second year in a row, and now I'm going to start baking my own bread and gardening?! I have no idea! But, for some reason, I DIG Jessica Fletcher and her adventures!)
Also, I've been reading old Captain America comics. It's cool; I am transported back into a world that I enjoyed when I was 15 or so. Captain America's New York in 1971 (back when he was teamed-up with The Falcon) is a cool place to hang out in! Not quite as cool as Cap's New York of 1983 (when I was reading each issue as it popped onto the shelves, and his partner was Nomad) but still a very evocative and (somehow) rejuvenating place in which to hang!
Also, may I just say that visiting New York in 2002 was slightly disappointing?
I mean, NOT REALLY disappointing...see, new York had -- back in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s this image of this filthy, chaotic, cesspool teaming with victims swimming together through this tide of humanity. You could TOTALLY believe that there were these superheroes and superhero groups operating throughout The City because there was so much pulsing humanity everywhere that Optimus Prime could do close-up magic tricks on a corner all day you might not know about it until you picked up the New York Times the next morning.
But, I mean, growing up with Marvel Comics (and, of course, all the movies of the '70s and '80s), you got this idea of this dirty, and yet somehow magical metropolis, where anything could happen!
And then, apparently, Mayor Koch happened, and teamed-up with the Disney Corporation, and now NYC is totally Family Friendly.
Now, as a tourist in NY for 5 days, I AM NOT COMPLAINING, lol. I mean, I was staying in Brooklyn -- when I was growing up, Brooklyn was supposed to be one of the toughest 'hoods in New York -- and I felt completely comfortable waking up in the middle of the night and going downstairs and across the street to buy some cigarettes and have a smoke outside. A lot of my time spent in New York (specifically, NYC) was spent on foot during the night hours, and I never once felt threatened or uneasy.
But there is this little-boy consciousness within me -- the cat that still reads Captain America comic books -- that is the slightest bit disappointed that New York is so safe and snug. You know what I mean? I mean, I would rather not be eaten by Jaws...and yet...part of me thrills at the thought that there may be a "Jaws" out there, trying to eat tourists, lol.
The cocktails are tasting TERRIFIC, so this may be an appropriate place for me to bid adieu.
MAY YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!!!
:D
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Straight-To-DVD Not Necessarily A Bad Thing Anymore...
One of the painful lessons I learned back in the 1980s was that "Direct-To-Video" (VHS, back in the day) usually meant that the flick wasn't good enough to get theatrical distribution.
The breaking of my DtV cherry was a little turd called A Return to Salem's Lot. I loved the Tobe Hooper adaptation for King's vampire tale (Barlow is still one of the coolest-looking vampire in cinematic history, to me!), so when my then-girlfriend and went to the video store to rent a scary flick for a date night, and I saw (what I thought was) the sequel to Salem's Lot, I snatched it up!
What the flick turned out to be, however, was a confusing mess of "and then this happens, and then this happens, and then this happens" storytelling, written and shot and acted very poorly.
It was a bitter disappointment. Before that, I had no idea movies could get that bad! In fact, I don't know if I'm even remembering this correctly, but I could swear the "movie" was shot on videotape! (I recall a shot where everything is on fire, and fire looks different on videotape than it does on film.)
In my late teens and early twenties I had taken chances on DtV flicks, and the perception held.
In the 1990s, though, Disney began sequelizing their blockbuster animated movies into DtV -- and those sequels were pretty good! If you liked Disney's Aladdin, then The Return of Jafar was a fun little flick! The animation clearly wasn't good enough to cut it on the Big Screen, but the story was good!
Anyway, the reason I'm going on like this is because I just watched a couple of great DtV flicks! They're part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies.
I don't remember exactly who started it, but whenever Marvel or DC release one of their Direct-to-Video features, they almost never disappoint!!!
The only exception I can think of is Batman: Gotham Knight. What a cynical piece of make-a-quick-buck-off-a-hot-property that was! If you haven't seen it, please don't bother. I swear to you, in one segment, Batman -- as well as most of the characters -- is shaped like a potato with toothpick legs and arms! Some may call it "artistic license" but I call it lazy! If an artist is so despondent about drawing an iconic character like everyone who has come before him, he should simply avoid iconic characters, not defile them! There were some segments that were well written, and maybe a couple that were well animated, but my memory is that no segments were both, and that the viewing experience as a whole was not worth the time or money I spent.
However, on the positive side DC Universe Animated Original Movies does not appear to have made that same mistake since!!! It appears they took a stylistic gamble, it failed (that is to say that it failed artistically; I'll bet they made their money back on the project), and they learned their lesson and moved on! Kudos to them, I say, for being open-minded and brave enough to take the chance and wise enough to learn from the experience!!!
Anyway, this elaborate lead-in is by way of sort of explaining why is was such a joy to me to watch Batman: Under the Red Hood and Superman/Batman: Apocalypse this morning!
I streamed them on Netflix, and it's such a delight to do that and get such a thoroughly pleasant surprise!
I mean, when you stream a theatrical release that has gone to DVD, you have a good idea what you're going to get. (The movie is likely to be, at least, watchable; that's why the studio paid so much to get it into theaters first.) And when you stream a Direct-to-DVD flick that you've never heard of before, you also have a good idea what you're going to get. (The movie may be watchable, but it's not likely to be good; otherwise it would have gotten a theatrical release, or at least aired on a Network or Cable station before it went to DVD.)
But when you stream one of Marvel's or DC's straight-to-video titles, you can bet that the movie will at least be good, and it may even be great!
The flicks I watched this morning were great! :D
Plus, I'm really enjoying a quaint, quiet Sunday! Friday was about drinkin' with my brother, blowing off steam from the work week, and watching the thoroughly awesome Red!!! Then Saturday was about getting my taxes done (YAY!), washing some dishes, working with my brother on our novel, and then watching some SpongeBob. (It had been a while since either of us had seen some SpongeBob, so I picked up a collection from the $5 bin at Walmart. Home Sweet Pineapple is the collection I got.)
Today, I still need to do some writing, and I really need some clean clothes. But since I share a laundromat with the rest of my apartment complex, and most who live here keep Normal People hours, I figure it might be best to do my laundry during the wee hours, when I'm not likely to be competing for an open washing machine or dryer. And I don't really have an excuse not to do my writing right now, except that I'm really diggin' on this simplistic little, no-pressure existence of just watching Netflix movies and TV shows (I caught a couple of Season One episodes of Murder, She Wrote episodes after my DC-palooza).
When I was a kid, one of my childish goals for my life was to watch movies and TV shows all day long, every day. As it is, I don't have cable at home (Time-Warner is the devil and they will not get my money if I can help it, unless and until they stop gouging people and start offering fair packages at reasonable prices!) so I'm not even tempted to spend all my time watching TV. And I'm actually thankful for that! I get A LOT more done because I'm not sucked into the boob tube. Still, the fact that I don't waste much time watching TV makes wasting a large chunk of today way on Netflix somehow particularly enjoyable! :) It's kind of novel.
I haven't decided if I want to return to Murder, She Wrote (I never watched the show when it was on the air, because it seemed to Young Ray Jay like some boring "grown-up's show"; but lately, I've become more fond of Mysteries -- I blame Agatha Christie, Sir Author Conan Doyle and Castle) or if I should hop into Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam while I have the time. I'm a huge Captain Marvel fan from way back, and one never knows when one's life is going to get unexpectedly busy.
Well...it looks like I just answered my own question. :)
I hope the rest of your weekend is blissfully fun AND relaxing!!!
:D
The breaking of my DtV cherry was a little turd called A Return to Salem's Lot. I loved the Tobe Hooper adaptation for King's vampire tale (Barlow is still one of the coolest-looking vampire in cinematic history, to me!), so when my then-girlfriend and went to the video store to rent a scary flick for a date night, and I saw (what I thought was) the sequel to Salem's Lot, I snatched it up!
What the flick turned out to be, however, was a confusing mess of "and then this happens, and then this happens, and then this happens" storytelling, written and shot and acted very poorly.
It was a bitter disappointment. Before that, I had no idea movies could get that bad! In fact, I don't know if I'm even remembering this correctly, but I could swear the "movie" was shot on videotape! (I recall a shot where everything is on fire, and fire looks different on videotape than it does on film.)
In my late teens and early twenties I had taken chances on DtV flicks, and the perception held.
In the 1990s, though, Disney began sequelizing their blockbuster animated movies into DtV -- and those sequels were pretty good! If you liked Disney's Aladdin, then The Return of Jafar was a fun little flick! The animation clearly wasn't good enough to cut it on the Big Screen, but the story was good!
Anyway, the reason I'm going on like this is because I just watched a couple of great DtV flicks! They're part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies.
I don't remember exactly who started it, but whenever Marvel or DC release one of their Direct-to-Video features, they almost never disappoint!!!
The only exception I can think of is Batman: Gotham Knight. What a cynical piece of make-a-quick-buck-off-a-hot-property that was! If you haven't seen it, please don't bother. I swear to you, in one segment, Batman -- as well as most of the characters -- is shaped like a potato with toothpick legs and arms! Some may call it "artistic license" but I call it lazy! If an artist is so despondent about drawing an iconic character like everyone who has come before him, he should simply avoid iconic characters, not defile them! There were some segments that were well written, and maybe a couple that were well animated, but my memory is that no segments were both, and that the viewing experience as a whole was not worth the time or money I spent.
However, on the positive side DC Universe Animated Original Movies does not appear to have made that same mistake since!!! It appears they took a stylistic gamble, it failed (that is to say that it failed artistically; I'll bet they made their money back on the project), and they learned their lesson and moved on! Kudos to them, I say, for being open-minded and brave enough to take the chance and wise enough to learn from the experience!!!
Anyway, this elaborate lead-in is by way of sort of explaining why is was such a joy to me to watch Batman: Under the Red Hood and Superman/Batman: Apocalypse this morning!
I streamed them on Netflix, and it's such a delight to do that and get such a thoroughly pleasant surprise!
I mean, when you stream a theatrical release that has gone to DVD, you have a good idea what you're going to get. (The movie is likely to be, at least, watchable; that's why the studio paid so much to get it into theaters first.) And when you stream a Direct-to-DVD flick that you've never heard of before, you also have a good idea what you're going to get. (The movie may be watchable, but it's not likely to be good; otherwise it would have gotten a theatrical release, or at least aired on a Network or Cable station before it went to DVD.)
But when you stream one of Marvel's or DC's straight-to-video titles, you can bet that the movie will at least be good, and it may even be great!
The flicks I watched this morning were great! :D
Plus, I'm really enjoying a quaint, quiet Sunday! Friday was about drinkin' with my brother, blowing off steam from the work week, and watching the thoroughly awesome Red!!! Then Saturday was about getting my taxes done (YAY!), washing some dishes, working with my brother on our novel, and then watching some SpongeBob. (It had been a while since either of us had seen some SpongeBob, so I picked up a collection from the $5 bin at Walmart. Home Sweet Pineapple is the collection I got.)
Today, I still need to do some writing, and I really need some clean clothes. But since I share a laundromat with the rest of my apartment complex, and most who live here keep Normal People hours, I figure it might be best to do my laundry during the wee hours, when I'm not likely to be competing for an open washing machine or dryer. And I don't really have an excuse not to do my writing right now, except that I'm really diggin' on this simplistic little, no-pressure existence of just watching Netflix movies and TV shows (I caught a couple of Season One episodes of Murder, She Wrote episodes after my DC-palooza).
When I was a kid, one of my childish goals for my life was to watch movies and TV shows all day long, every day. As it is, I don't have cable at home (Time-Warner is the devil and they will not get my money if I can help it, unless and until they stop gouging people and start offering fair packages at reasonable prices!) so I'm not even tempted to spend all my time watching TV. And I'm actually thankful for that! I get A LOT more done because I'm not sucked into the boob tube. Still, the fact that I don't waste much time watching TV makes wasting a large chunk of today way on Netflix somehow particularly enjoyable! :) It's kind of novel.
I haven't decided if I want to return to Murder, She Wrote (I never watched the show when it was on the air, because it seemed to Young Ray Jay like some boring "grown-up's show"; but lately, I've become more fond of Mysteries -- I blame Agatha Christie, Sir Author Conan Doyle and Castle) or if I should hop into Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam while I have the time. I'm a huge Captain Marvel fan from way back, and one never knows when one's life is going to get unexpectedly busy.
Well...it looks like I just answered my own question. :)
I hope the rest of your weekend is blissfully fun AND relaxing!!!
:D
Saturday, February 05, 2011
TISHA In Austin!!!
So last night around 2:00am I'm watching Jeeves & Wooster (a new Brit-Com discovery for Brian and myself) and my phone rings.
Who is calling me when I'm actually awake and able to talk?
IT'S TISHA!!! :D
She and some friends drove down to see Skrillex at Austin Music Hall tonight (they're there as I type), and she was winding down for the evening and suddenly realized, "I'm in Austin!"
So we caught up a bit and made plans for breakfast around 1:00pm today.
She got up around noon (early for her, she informed me; and I didn't have to tell her it was early for me) and called me to plans for food. She was coordinating with her friends, trying to figure out some place cheap: "Wendy's? Wendy's is fine by me. (pause) We're in Austin. (pause; then speaking to me) Thundercloud Subs."
I dig the image in my head that one of her entourage asked "Where are we?" and then, discovering they were in Austin, decided they needed Thundercloud! (I have no idea if that's how it played out, but I like to think it is.)
It worked out nicely because I set my alarm for noon (when Tisha and her friends were planning to wake up) and I tried to get to sleep around 3:00am...
I ended up finally falling asleep around 4:00am. But that's still a triumph for me! On work nights -- when 9:00am is a desirable time to meet Morpheus -- I often don't pass out until 11:00am or later. So getting to sleep so early was awesome!
Then I slept for about an hour and a half, woke up from a really cool dream, obeyed Nature, then went back to sleep and repeated this twice more. I finally woke up around 9:30am with a brilliant idea for the novel Brian and I are co-writing, and I finally ran out of stuff to write about the time my alarm clock went off!
Then Tisha's wake-up call.
A WONDERFUL way to start the day off!!!
So I was showered, shaved, dressed and on the road a little after 1:30pm when Tisha called to say that they were going to eat at some of those parked food trucks on South Congress (near Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds).
Then, about 5 minutes later, she called back to say they were eating at Homes Slice Pizza.
Ah, to be young and spontaneous again! :)
When I got there, I roamed around a bit and played Cell-Phone Tag with Tish until she finally told me they were actually outside More Home Slice Pizza! (I had only just learned of Home Slice Pizza! I had no idea there was also a More Home Slice Pizza! (And how COOL is that idea!))
So we finally located each other and Tish introduced me to her boyfriend and her friends -- all of whom are VERY groovy folks!!! -- and she warned me that they may, any or all of them, spontaneously burst into English accents throughout the day.
I didn't mention that Brian and I are currently watching the complete series of Jeeves & Wooster (or that our discovery of Jeeves & Wooster was the result of my finally breaking down and reading several of P. G. Wodehouse's stories and novels originating those characters) but I did favor them with my limited range British dialects (you know: posh, Londoner, more southerly England) and they approved.
And I wasn't the one to brag about my British hottie this time; it was Tisha! :D (Thank you, Gnomey, for making me a little bit cool in my daughter's eyes!!!)
Then we set about strolling up Congress and popping in some of the shops.
It was a groovy day!
I'm sad to say that I hadn't seen Tisha for...well, it seems like a year or more! It was really cool to get to spend some time with her!!! And her friends; Tisha always hangs with cool folks! It reminded me of cruising around the mall in the '80s with my buds. (Except -- a note for readers that are 40 or older -- the term "bud" has a different meaning now than it used to.)
The only drawback to this day is that it is now 9:55pm, and I ant to go to sleep.
I shouldn't go to sleep. I should stay up until at least 6:00am so that tomorrow isn't such a fight to get back into my normal sleep schedule. But I may go ahead and crash out and worry about the consequences tomorrow.
Am I terrible? Am I terribly old? ;P
I'm not really concerned. I GOT TO HANG OUT WITH TISHA TODAY!!!
:D
Who is calling me when I'm actually awake and able to talk?
IT'S TISHA!!! :D
She and some friends drove down to see Skrillex at Austin Music Hall tonight (they're there as I type), and she was winding down for the evening and suddenly realized, "I'm in Austin!"
So we caught up a bit and made plans for breakfast around 1:00pm today.
She got up around noon (early for her, she informed me; and I didn't have to tell her it was early for me) and called me to plans for food. She was coordinating with her friends, trying to figure out some place cheap: "Wendy's? Wendy's is fine by me. (pause) We're in Austin. (pause; then speaking to me) Thundercloud Subs."
I dig the image in my head that one of her entourage asked "Where are we?" and then, discovering they were in Austin, decided they needed Thundercloud! (I have no idea if that's how it played out, but I like to think it is.)
It worked out nicely because I set my alarm for noon (when Tisha and her friends were planning to wake up) and I tried to get to sleep around 3:00am...
I ended up finally falling asleep around 4:00am. But that's still a triumph for me! On work nights -- when 9:00am is a desirable time to meet Morpheus -- I often don't pass out until 11:00am or later. So getting to sleep so early was awesome!
Then I slept for about an hour and a half, woke up from a really cool dream, obeyed Nature, then went back to sleep and repeated this twice more. I finally woke up around 9:30am with a brilliant idea for the novel Brian and I are co-writing, and I finally ran out of stuff to write about the time my alarm clock went off!
Then Tisha's wake-up call.
A WONDERFUL way to start the day off!!!
So I was showered, shaved, dressed and on the road a little after 1:30pm when Tisha called to say that they were going to eat at some of those parked food trucks on South Congress (near Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds).
Then, about 5 minutes later, she called back to say they were eating at Homes Slice Pizza.
Ah, to be young and spontaneous again! :)
When I got there, I roamed around a bit and played Cell-Phone Tag with Tish until she finally told me they were actually outside More Home Slice Pizza! (I had only just learned of Home Slice Pizza! I had no idea there was also a More Home Slice Pizza! (And how COOL is that idea!))
So we finally located each other and Tish introduced me to her boyfriend and her friends -- all of whom are VERY groovy folks!!! -- and she warned me that they may, any or all of them, spontaneously burst into English accents throughout the day.
I didn't mention that Brian and I are currently watching the complete series of Jeeves & Wooster (or that our discovery of Jeeves & Wooster was the result of my finally breaking down and reading several of P. G. Wodehouse's stories and novels originating those characters) but I did favor them with my limited range British dialects (you know: posh, Londoner, more southerly England) and they approved.
And I wasn't the one to brag about my British hottie this time; it was Tisha! :D (Thank you, Gnomey, for making me a little bit cool in my daughter's eyes!!!)
Then we set about strolling up Congress and popping in some of the shops.
It was a groovy day!
I'm sad to say that I hadn't seen Tisha for...well, it seems like a year or more! It was really cool to get to spend some time with her!!! And her friends; Tisha always hangs with cool folks! It reminded me of cruising around the mall in the '80s with my buds. (Except -- a note for readers that are 40 or older -- the term "bud" has a different meaning now than it used to.)
The only drawback to this day is that it is now 9:55pm, and I ant to go to sleep.
I shouldn't go to sleep. I should stay up until at least 6:00am so that tomorrow isn't such a fight to get back into my normal sleep schedule. But I may go ahead and crash out and worry about the consequences tomorrow.
Am I terrible? Am I terribly old? ;P
I'm not really concerned. I GOT TO HANG OUT WITH TISHA TODAY!!!
:D
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