Do you like being green?

Went to Home Park for the first time in years on Saturday. Wish I hadn't bothered; it was a dismal performance. By the sound of it, yesterday's thrashing at Brighton wasn't much better.

Saturday night, I went out with Coops and Wes. Pretty good night. Shouted at Big Ron for making absolutely no effort to find us[3]. Went Fusioneering. Drank far too much. Woke up at 1300hrs on Sunday cursing the nightclub and everyone associated with it.

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Heard from Tris for the first time in months. I'd been thinking that he was going the way of the rest of the Mechanios as he seemed to be turning into a bit of a recluse, but I couldn't decide which one of them he was emulating.

Anyway, this weekend he arranged to come out and then didn't, which definitely means he is channeling Duncan[4]. I imagine that, even as I type this, Tris is gaining 150lbs of fat, working in the kitchen of a pub, and losing his hair.

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[3] This time he outdid even himself. Time he was supposed to meet us: 2000hrs. Time he actually met us: 2230hrs, and that was only because we hunted him down at his local. We'd never have seen him else.
[4] It would have been channeling Ian if he'd gotten a German girlfriend, grown his hair, and forgotten how to communicate without the use of a modem.

Do you like brenniven?

Went out with the driving test taker again last night. She said it was her birthday, but I'm convinced that she has actually come to realise that when she leaves the Concrete Kingdom she will really miss it, so she's trying to get out as much as possible. Can't say as I blame her; a night in Swindon truly is worth seven in any other town.

Or she could just be glad to be escaping . . .

Went to Wrongs for a warm-up drink, and then had a meal in Gaetano's. 18 people round the table, which is quite good going for someone who's only been in town 6 months. Andy and Jen, Shameful and The Girl I See on the Stairs, the French girl, and 10 or so others.

I had prawns on a pizza for the first time. It was good.

Went back to the flat afterwards and had more of the Icelandic schnaps. Seems to be that only Andy and I actually like it, as everyone else has been unimpressed (particularly Jen).

Home

Words Monday: 516
Words yesterday: 514
Words total: 75478
Scenes finished: 1
Scenes total: 60

Do you like parades?

Last of the reviews for a while (hopefully), because I've finally got to the last of my holiday reading :)

Set This House in Order by Matt Ruff

This book is a great read. I don't know that I believe the science, but it certainly makes for an interesting and intelligent thriller. Ruff uses dialogue and physical description well to show and differentiate between the different souls in each of the bodies. Great from start to finish.

Also, a quick nod to Ken Woods, as I would probably have never even have heard of it if I hadn't read his in-depth review. To echo Ken's words: it rocks.

Do you like being odd?

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

I was troubled by this book. I bought it because I was intrigued by the blurb, but in the end I was disappointed. The main problem is one of balance. It's a horror-thriller, but the tone of the work is very light and often humorous (intentionally so, as the narrator has been told to keep the narration light-hearted). The moments of tension end up not working because of the humour, and the humorous bits often fail because they feel forced. You end up with a novel that reads like Robert Rankin with its crazy characters, situations and comic violence. This is great for comedies, but just doesn't work for thrillers.

Do you like playing the fool?

The Tawny Man, 3: Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb

It gets off to a slow start, but once the Skill coterie set off on their quest it picks up a little. Definitely well worth a read, although not before Fool's Errand and The Golden Fool at the minimum. Personally, I'd recommend starting all the way back at Assassin's Apprentice, because this book is not just the conclusion to the Tawny Man, but also a neat wrapping up to the two trilogies (The Farseer and the Liveship Traders) that came before it.

It actually ends really well, and I'm satisfied with most of what happens in this book. The gripe from TGF that many of the subplots fizzled out and didn't end satisfactorily is still true, and you get to wondering how much of the book that came before was filler. Still, not really a major gripe. Also thanks to events in this book you also begin to work out why Fitz has been such a colossal pain in the arse on occasion . . . and the explanation works.

Home

Words yesterday: 571
Words today: 541
Words total: 74448

Home

Words Wednesday: 508
Words total: 73336

Do you like sparring?

Received my sparring kit at taekwondo last night (sparring being one of things that I get to do as a yellow). Sparring is fun although, after my initial brief lesson last night, I've discovered the following things:

a). I still can't bring myself to hit women[2];
b). the plastic sparring kit makes you sweat like a bitch; and
c). I'm rubbish at sparring.

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[2] It's something I'm reluctant to get past, but I guess I'm going to have to if I'm going to be sparring with women.

Do you like murdering your husband?

Double Jeopardy

Worth watching only to see Tommy Lee Jones doing his Columbo impression. You know, the whole asking-seemingly-innocent-questions thing, as well as baiting the crook at the end of the film before the police (in this case the framed wife) enter the room and shouts 'Gotcha, we got all of that on tape, so you might as well come quietly'. It's actually a good impression, but I'm not convinced it was intended to be a direct rip of the Columbo formula. Homage maybe. I don't know.

The rest of the film is pretty average. Ashley Judd's character is a moron, pursuing her husband and son without a hint of subtlety and leaving clues behind her so big that Jones could have seen them from the moon. The whole way she goes about finding her son made me want to shout at the television. She breaks her parole all of two seconds after getting out of prison, and doesn't even try to be careful about it. I'll bet the people she left back in prison were wailing in despair. This is what happens when you invest your trust in someone who claims to be innocent but, unfortunately, is lacking a full deck.

About one of the only good things about the film is that when Jones discovers that Judd has broken parole, he says to her 'You're a fucking idiot' rather than 'Wow, you must really love your son, I was wrong all along, let's fall in love.' Of course, that comes, but not until much later.

Other things worth noting: double jeopardy doesn't work like that. If Judd kills Bruce Greenwood, she's going to prison. Murder is still murder. The fact that it's pre-meditated, that she actually sought him out with the intention of killing him, means that she's not going to get away with it. Sure she'll have her earlier conviction quashed, but the actual murder will be a completely different crime. Different time, different place, different circumstances.

Finally, you know that however the film turns out, Judd will not kill Greenwood in cold blood. You know this because Hollywood does not condone murder. Hollywood does not allow its protagonists in blockbuster pictures to murder people, because protagonists are GOOD people. Only EVIL people commit murder. If she kills him, it will be in self-defence.

How much better would the film have been if she had just walked up to him and popped him? No warning, no preamble. Bullet to the brain. How differently would the son have reacted when she went to pick him up from school? 'Sorry, mum, nice to see you're not dead and all, but you just killed the man I've grown to love this last six years. Couldn't you have sat down and talked things through?'

It would have got rid of the happy-ending, but it sure would have been better to watch.

Do you like rejection?

Had nolove from Fantasy World Geographic for Curiosity whilst I was on leave [entry]. That's the first rejection on this story, and it's another not-quite-a-rejection. Apparently they 'will be closing due to low sales' and are no longer accepting submissions.

So, the story's been sent out to market number two.

Do you like driving?

Beer o'clock last night to celebrate a workmate's driving test success. I'm happy that she's passed first time, but I have to admit that my joy faltered slightly when I discovered that:

a). A woman taking it the same time finished her Reverse Bay Park touching the line, and passed, and
b). My workmate ran an amber light, and passed

. . . both of which are offences that I was failed for :(

Still, it was a good night.