Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Okay, I've decided that the results of yesterday's "experiment" post were, if not an outright failure, entirely inconclusive. For the time being, this line of investigation shall be discontinued. I also wanted to be make absolutely sure that no one out there has misread what I wrote yesterday as some sort of frelled-up ode to the joys of benzodiazepine use or abuse. It wasn't meant that way at all. It was meant quite the opposite way. I'd give almost anything to go the rest of my life without ever taking another goddamned pill.
Yesterday, I circled lazily about the prospect of writing, kind of like a vulture wheeling on thermals, sniffing about for something ripe down below. Nothing came of it, and I went hungry. I did finally get that counter off the Blogger page. That was the zenith of yesterday's productivity. Today, I'm going to try to begin a short story that's due in July. I'd planned to do it after the trip to New England but a) this way it'll be done, and b) I'm going stir crazy, not working (and those notes don't count) but having nothing much else to do instead. It's not that I have some need to start writing again. It's that I have a need to be working again, and the only work presenting itself is writing. So, this story. We'll see. It might happen.
I've noticed that Amazon.com has the cover of Murder of Angels up now.
I never got back to the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkeban review yesterday (to use the word "review" loosely). Things just kept not coming up, not getting in the way. Anyway, yes, Spooky and I loved it. I wasn't quite as blown away as I was by the first film, but thought it a vast improvement over the second film. Alfonso Cuar?n has a fine eye, and he's created a beautiful world, somehow more immediately tangible than Chris Columbus' Hogwart's. This is, appropriately, a darker, grittier Harry Potter, in keeping with the darker tone of Rowling's third novel. I wished it could have been an hour longer, yet the script seemed tight, if a little rushed at times. Richard Harris was sorely missed as Albus Dumbledore, but Michael Gambon served well in his stead. This film was filled by great performances: David Thewlis, Timothy Spall (a personal favorite), and Jim Tavar?, for example. Alan Rickman and Gary Oldman steal the show, in my opinion. Emma Watson is maturing into a talented actress, and I was very pleased that Hermione was given so much space to grow this time out. The hippogriff Buckbeak is one of the most stunning examples of CGI I've ever seen. I still love Hagrid best of all. The "grim" dog and werewolf effects were creepy as hell (a rare case where I'm in disagreement with Neil), all long-leggedy and black. The time travel thing even worked to my satisfaction. So, no major complaints, nothing really worth mentioning. This is a beautiful, powerful film that you should see. I think it even managed to scrape the last rancid bits of The Day After Tomorrow from my brain. I think we are living in a golden age for the fantasy film, and mavel at the wonders to come.
Only six hours of sleep last night, and I was thinking of calling my doctor to ask her if I could double the Ambien dose, but then Spooky found a site online that says it should take up to a week before I begin to get the full effects. I wish someone had told me that sooner. Of course, I might also have taken responsibility for myself and tried to find out the details before starting Ambien.
I can't deny that I'm beginning to show a certain favoritism towards LiveJournal. I was afraid this would happen. I'm much more likely to correct typos in the LJ than I am in Blog. It's just so much easier. I have no plans of abandoning Blogger, and the journal will remain mirrored at both, but I see a shift towards LJ being the root instead of an "annex." So, if you want less errors, if you care about that sort of thing, I refer you to greygirlbeast.
The third Murder of Angels ARC auction is in its last couple of hours now. Also, there a Dreaming rarity you might check out.
11:05 AM
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