Guardians, Good Days and Getting Things Done

The word of the week is formidable.

July 28 - Already?

Where has half the summer gone?

It's hard to believe that July is finished and done as of this week. I've been concentrating so hard on my novel and my new job that time has just flown, to the point where I haven't really done much in terms of going places or seeing people this summer.

All in all that's not such a bad thing, though on occasion I think about how we only get a few decades to do all this before we're past wanting to get out and do things on a regular basis.

For me, some things have already 'gone' and I'm not talking about my hearing. No, it's all about finding time these days and something that's gone by the wayside along with my Olympic-level reading list has been television and game-playing. Not to mention socialization, but I'm hanging on by my fingertips in that aspect of my life with the hopes that I can get a better grip on it early next year when the first draft of my second novel is done.

I've noticed a difference already in my general fitness level; not having to cycle about 400 km every month really does make for reduced energy levels. Not to mention a subtle weight gain of a few pounds, which for me isn't much overall but I've still noticed the change. Being someone who now only has sugar occasionally, I'll have to work on the exercise portion of my lifestyle to ensure that I make up for my admittedly sedentary day job and writing habits both of an evening.

If I could figure out how to dictate creatively while riding a bicycle and not get myself injured, I do it in a heartbeat. Hmmm…

Maybe I should buy an exercise bike for my living room?

July 29 - Lucy

What's that - a film about ultimate intelligence?

Count me in and even better: Lucy stars Scarlett Johansson!

I have to admit, I didn't look into the film all that much before going to see it tonight because, as I mentioned just above, it's a film examining intelligence and the fact that such a beast made it to theaters with a decent budget speaks volumes about its content even though it's only an hour and a half long.

Did I mention it also stars Morgan Freeman, in his usual Genial Scientist role? He's got it down pat by now; here he is with Scarlett:

As to the film itself, I won't give you any spoilers and will only say that I thought the concepts presented were fairly interesting overall, but the director, Luc Besson of The Fifth Element, didn't do much with them save use the concept as a setup for gun battles and car chases. 

Kinda disappointing. If you want a spoiler-heavy( and not positive, by the by )review of the film, click HERE.

At the end of the movie, I was left wanting more to have been done on the main topic. It actually encapsulated some of the thoughts I've had, on and off, ever since I was a kid, regarding intelligence. What if someone suddenly became 'super-smart' ? If they did, what would they do with that gift and why? There's a whole long line of questions you can pursue in that direction of reasoning and it's unfortunate that the movie didn't do more than touch the surface of any of them.

Which was rather dumb, in my opinion.

July 30 - Barbarian Rewards

I'm quite excited today: I have a new comic to read - sort of.

It's a crossover comic, which I'm glad to say I've seen a lot more of in the last few years. Publishers seem to be getting the hint that the storylines they've recycled for a few decades now are just plain stale, so some new blood is needed. Literally, in a few cases, but in the one today, it promises to be a case of bloody meets funny.

Conan Vs. Groo is, as you may imagine, what happens when fantasy's most legendary barbarian meets comic's dumbest barbarian. I anticipate Much Funny, as evidenced by this pic:

I'll be honest, I haven't read the copy I picked up today. Nor will I soon.

Why wait, you ask?

It's a reward... which I do to myself, so that I can have one more reason, more motivation, to WORK hard and write. If I don't, if I slack, well... I don't get my reward, right?

If that sounds both difficult and amusing, it is. At least to me.

Surprisingly, it works for me. Has for some years now, ever since I started writing seriously. Sure, I'd do it for other things many years ago, but since there was a lack of a definite goal in many cases, then the witholding of a reward seemed somewhat trivial.

Believe me, I want to read that comic, almost as much as I want to see Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend. But as it's a test of both my willpower and my work ethic, I'm just going to soldier on and Get Things Done: either I get up to Chapter Ten outlined in FULL by August 15th, or I don't read the comic until I get up to Chapter Twenty done.

That's mean, I know, but I'll tell you: the guy I work for values hard work. And he's got a mean streak when it comes to people not taking their potential seriously.

Both are good reasons to buckle down.

July 31 - Mindzap!

I had a book breakthrough today - TWO, in fact!

Again, I'm stuck on the one hand with the burning need to TELL someone who's read my first book just HOW significant the one breakthrough is and how COOL the second one is.

But I can't, as that'd spoil a lot of  things.

So, I'm left with the simple fact that I'll have to write things in and let people find out for themselves. Since you've heard it here first, if and when you come across what you think is The Breakthrough in my trilogy, let me know! I'll give you one guess and if you get it right, well... I'll think of a suitable reward, that I can promise you.

Yep, it's that big. I'm all a-tingle!

Seriously though, it's days like this that make me want to write full-time. today's revelation has obviously been percolating for a few years, ever since I wrote up the first few chapters of Book One. Looking at a few key chapters of that novel, I can see now I WAS thinking along the same general lines of my breakthrough idea back then and everything's crystallized now into a forehead-smacking moment of clarity as I finally 'got it' at last.

Magnificent feeling, that.

As a sop, I can let you listen to this: there's one song that really inspired me to make the breakthrough. The music actually generated a scene all on its own while I was listening to it a few weeks ago and it still makes me tear up when I hear it in the right frame of mind at work. Fantastic sounds:

Aug 1 - Who's watching me now?

Cameras are everywhere these days, for good or bad.

Some places have it worse than others; two examples I can think of are London England and Washington DC, both cities being covered in literally thousands of cameras. In The UK overall, there's estimated to be one camera for every eleven citizens - scary!

Now, for the average person, that's not something they'd usually worry about, but at the same time you should at least be aware that you're on camera. Your image is being studied whether you like it or not by software algorithms that can find single your face out from the crowd and identify you, much like systems that it been in use for almost a decade now by casinos the world over to identify known cheats and other individuals who are not welcome in their facilities for various reasons.

Some people really don't like that. They have taken steps to ensure that they are not able to be identified by the camera systems without having to wear a bag over their head or otherwise conspicuously disguise themselves. Have a look at what this gentleman came up with:

What you're seeing is a form of dazzle face paint, named after the camouflage patterns adopted in the first world war by navies in order to break up the silhouettes of ships, before the later widespread adoption of radar made such visual disguises unnecessary.

The face paint works by confusing those computer algorithms that identify the various parts of the face and put it all together into an identifiable picture. While it's quite obvious to any people who look at you that you're wearing patterned face paint, to computer it's enough to throw its recognition software for a loop. Which, if you're one of those people who was really bothered by facial tracking, might be worth it. Take note: the author of the article above did not have the opportunity to test actual government systems, which may be more advanced than we realize.

Me, I'm just going to stick with a hat and sunglasses. Really, really big sunglasses.

Aug 2 - HALO, on TV?

Well, isn't this interesting…

I just found out today that HALO, the game we all know and love, is going to get a TV series. In fact, it's getting ON a TV near you THIS November! And it's being directed by none other than Ridley Scott of Aliens fame - how cool is that? Take a look:

Apparently separate from the movie that's still in pre-production with Spielburg, the Halo: Nightfall series will be set in between Halo 4 and Halo 5( neither of which I've played, incidentally )so it’s all canon. Being someone who loved the original Halo storyline( and Halo 2 )I find this news very exciting. It's also interesting that Microsoft is timing the TV series premiere with the release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, a re-mastered edition of the first 4 Halo games which unfortunately is only for the Xbox One, which I do not own. Nice that they're upgrading the graphics for the next-gen console, though.

As for the TV series, I haven't heard enough about it to say anything at this point. But I'm glad they've made it, for all that Microsoft's been trying for a decade to generate some interest in Hollywood.

Aug 3 - GUARDIANS! DISCOURSE! MUSIC!

What a day!

In the early afternoon, I treated myself to a viewing of Guardians of the Galaxy, coincidentally running into several friends from my gaming group at the same theater showing.

What a movie!

I went into the film knowing very little about it, having kept myself away from any kind of spoilers or even teasers after seeing the initial trailer for the film. I wanted to go into it completely without bias or otherwise informed as to what I would see in order to get a true reaction to the material.

I wasn't disappointed! The film was everything I hoped it would be and more: chock-full of action, great characters, with actual plot development, liberally sprinkled with much humor and with an irreverent streak that I immediately fell in love with. There was a ton of solid  CGI and while I went to go see the 3-D version, it was so subtly done that I wasn't pulled out of the film by a 3-D shot even once; finally! The film was so much fun that I'm going to go back to see it again tomorrow, which I almost never ever do, so let that be my final say on this great joyride of comic book cinema magic: go see it twice, at least!

From there, I went down to Moka House to relax, mull over the film and write a bit of my blog while sipping on tea and just generally enjoying things in the fantastic August weather.

Wouldn't you know, there I ran into the same interesting, highly-intelligent young lady again that I'd met a few weeks ago? We spent easily two hours talking about philosophy, observation, writing, positivity in one's life and quite a few other things. It was a true pleasure to chat with her again, as it's rare that I can have such a far-ranging conversation with someone who really, truly thinks about their replies every single time. Very refreshing.

My third and final stop today was the 25th Annual Victoria Symphony Splash in the evening down at the inner Harbor. I met up with those same gaming friends from earlier today, plus familial attachments, on the lawn of the BC Legislature, to enjoy several hours of classical music while playing a game called Smash Up on blankets and sipping punch. It was wonderful to see a crowd of nearly 40,000 people taking their leisure peacefully while enjoying the sounds of magnificent music on a perfect summer evening.

I'm definitely marking down today as a Very Good Day in my book - 3 for 3, by my count!

It was a fantastic week, creatively and lifestyle-wise, not to mention MOVIES: two in one week! I'm on a roll here folks... next week should be even better at this rate!

Excitement, Emotional Writing and Evenings Out

The word of the week is gorram.

July 21 - Dang, Again?

Well, that didn't last long.

After exactly 2 weeks, my glasses failed again at exactly the same spot, so I guess that temporary repair was far more temporary than I had thought.

Fortunately, my computer glasses arrived from Hong Kong on Friday and so I've been able to use them this week. They're all right, in that they fit my head, have a lovely yellow tint and have the correct prescription - almost. Due to my lack of glasses two weeks ago along with a rather bad headache and a rather nasty case of eyestrain, I transposed a single number when I was ordering them and so they're not -quite- correct. Meaning that I'll have to order some new glasses in the coming weeks: one pair for regular use and one pair for computer use.

Fortunately I've located a place in the USA called Zenni Opitcal that can provide me with two pairs of glasses along with my custom specs( pun intended )and a yellow tint - they will even toss click on sunglasses into the bargain. All for less than $100 Canadian with shipping included, quite the deal.

However, as fate would have it the exact frames I want are out of stock, so I'll have to wait a bit. I'll just have to keep on viewing the world slightly out of focus and doing my eye exercises more often until then.

A bit of related fun:

Do not adjust your monitor...

If you Google the word 'Tilt' your search results will appear… with a slight tilt. It's amusing and disconcerting at the same time - a great example of how little things can shake up our long-held perceptions of the world, of all the things we're used to being knocked ever-so-slightly askew.

Kind of like when your glasses are out of whack.

July 22 - Me, a Captain?

I'm VERY excited to hear that Firefly Online is happening!

Not until 2015 though but that's still fantastic news for fans of the show who have waited a decade now for any possibility of continuing the stories told about the 'Verse. Being able to play your own Captain, hiring a crew and romping about the 'Verse is really what it's all about, as the canny trailer below tells us so succinctly:

I don't really have much worse than this, I can now hardly wait until 2015. I guess I'll just have to find some time in between editing my second novel, getting my first one out there and starting on my third.

It sounds like it'll be a really shiny year for me!

July 23 - Bike Angel?

In the last month, somebody's tampered with my bike - twice.

The first time, I found my bike seat had been removed and put back again, but the quick release-clamp had been taken along with the mount for my lock. Which was annoying but not nearly as big a problem as it would've been if my seat had been taken too; I've no idea why they took the one and not the other.

The second time that they filled with my bike, whoever 'they' are, they removed my rear wheel completely, so that I found my bike in the morning looking like this:

Not how I want to find my bike in the morning...

Very strangely, those same people who removed the wheel simply placed it next to my bike, which I took as a good thing. From what I can figure out, the first people who messed with my bike simply did so because they could and wanted to be jerks. The second person(s?) to do so was either (a) interrupted in the act and had to abandon I will before they could come back for it or (b) they removed it using the quick release lever and left it there to show me that I had been remiss in completely securing my bike.

I took the hint the second time and purchased a cable lock to run through the rear tire as well as the bike rack to secure both. Definitely a strange thing though, to find your bike wheels sitting next year bike and not missing completely; maybe it's a new thing for thieves to be beneficent?

It's too bad I can't find a good Dragon to watch over my bike!

Or to be my kite. I finally found a scaled( pun intended )image of the dragon kite I'd like to buy one day - and it's HUGE! Have a gander:

Apparently it requires a team of handlers AND a 'pilot' kite flying above it to keep it steady, so there's NO way that it can be operated by a single person - such as myself - solo on a nice sunny-windy day. There's also the time commitment: if I'm flying a kite, I'm not writing or doing anything else productive and well, right now my time's in rather short supply, so this summer's again going to be kite-free for me.

Kinda sad, but hey, I'll just keep looking for a perfect kite to take to next year's Kite Festival.

July 24 - Are You Crying?

The writing is going very well on my second novel.

Perhaps it's a little difficult to follow my progress without resorting to spoilers, but I'm still making the effort. In some ways, I'm documenting it for myself, as I did two years ago when writing my first book's initial draft to be able to look back at my process and see how I did it, as well as what's changed from then to now.

Tonight I had a difficult scene to write, one that was very emotional.

Keeping it spoiler-free, I'll only say that I had to encompass two characters who wanted to help each other but didn't know how. It was very exhausting for me mentally to tell it from the one point of view while occupying both in my head. While it's not quite the analogy I'd use, it was as if I was an observer in a room with two people arguing about something that neither could agree on but both understood - to the point where they were yelling at each other in frustration.

I don't know about you, but that's uncomfortable for me to fully visualize.

By no means does it compare to the agonies that many authors put themselves through, writing about situations that they're extraordinarily uncomfortable with such as murder, violence, racism or any of the other things that writers write in order to tell a story and get a point across.

I'm very involved in my creative process, investing myself deeply in my characters. When I'm envisioning scenes, putting them together in my head or even seeing them unfold, I am usually seeing things for the first time. Meaning that I'm feeling them for the first time as well. Pivotal scenes with deep emotions and consequences for the characters and plot often affect me emotionally whether I want them to or not and it's exactly that emotional connection that I want to convey in my writing to my readers.

Judging by the way tonight scene went tonight, I'm very much on the right path in that regard.

July 25 - But Is It Art?

Box art in videogames certainly has come a long way.

30 years ago, box art for the Atari 2600 was pretty basic but there were quite a few gems all the same. None of the box art look like what the games actually did, of course, but it was still cool.

As videogames evolved, so did the box art, though again what was on the front of the box usually wasn't what was experienced in game. That didn't come until well after the year 2000, when videogame graphics finally started to get detailed enough that photorealism was on occasion possible. Nowadays, it's not uncommon for high-end console or PC games to be so realistic that one often forgets one is playing using an image generated pixel by pixel and not by video footage taken of reality.

The art of the videogame cover is thus becoming lost, which is why I was glad to run across the website of Mike Winterbauer, which will resonate for fans of the old PC Might and Magic series, especially:

To be honest, what really caught my eye was the Wing Commander box art, which I still recall on seeing for the first time, thinking "Wow, I hope the game looks like that inside!" Which of course it didn't, even though I had at the time in the late 1990s a fairly high-end PC with all the specs needed for good graphics.

While you can still find examples of unique videogame art here and there in the stores today, for the most part box art like was seen in the 1980s and 1990s has vanished from shelves. Which is a pity, as I feel that many of the images evoked a sense of innocent play in silicon worlds that has been lost in the high-value big-budget box art covers you see now.

July 26 - That's Chris Foss?

Less than a week until Guardians of the Galaxy opens!

I'm quite excited about this movie, more so than any in recent memory. That said, I'm a little leery of going to go see it on opening night, though a fair number of people I know are going to do exactly that. Given that opening night is a weeknight and it will be the late show, I may not really want to subject myself to that, especially if I am watching the movie with glasses intended for viewing things within 10 feet - definitely not optimized for IMAX.

The Philippines get it a day early... lucky!

About the movie itself: today I just discovered something fascinating about GOTG!

As it turns out, one of my favorite sci-fi artists, Chris Foss, was tapped to do spaceship designs for the movie! I've mentioned Chris in this blog several times before and for good reason: his work is seminal, timeless and simply the best fusion of technical design and visual uniqueness I've ever seen when it comes to spaceships. Here's just one example: 

 

Needless to say, I'm even more excited to let my eyeballs feast on the visuals in Guardians, now that I know that Foss is involved!

Speaking of space: how about that 2012 flare?

When I mentioned this particular bit of news a month or two ago in the blog, I didn't have any visuals to go along with it. Since then, the story has spread( two years after the fact! )and more information has been released by NASA. Including a visual that gives you an animated frame of reference to see just how big that burp of plasma was that missed the Earth by what on a cosmic scale is a tiny margin:

Think about that next time you go outside to enjoy the sun: that sunburn you might end up with could've been a lot worse. Well, not really, but you would have been able to see it only by candlelight after the sun set because every electrical system on the planet would have been malfunctioning.

 

July 27 - That's on the book list? Really?

When it comes to lists, I'm a sucker for ones that include books.

Especially science fiction and fantasy books.

Bouncing around the Internet today, looking for shiny objects as well as my usual topics of interest, I didn't find much. Which is why I was grateful when a friend tossed this link my way:

In total, I have read 15 of the books on the list, though to be fair some of the listings are actually for series like Asimov's Foundation series which is several books, not one. So by my count, I have a little catching up to do but I'm pleased that I've read the majority of the books.

Save one: the Hunger Games and its sequels.

When all the hoopla started, I decided to put off both reading the book and seeing the film for quite some time, in the main because I was busy writing a novel of my own. Because of that, I got to read some reviews of both the book and film and to be quite honest, they weren't all that great. Since my reading list is already massive along with my backlog of films, I ended up catching The Hunger Games on Netflix earlier this year. I wasn't very impressed with the story, which seemed thin on many points as did the plot of what was essentially totalitarian regime encouraging children to kill each other for sport.

Not really my kind of story, apart from being somewhat weak.

Which is why I was very surprised to find it on the list mentioned above. I can think of several dozen other books that I've read, many of which I still have in my collection, that could quite deservedly take the place of the hunger games. Reading the comments on the article, it seems that the authors may have skewed the included books along the lines of overall sales, which to my mind does not speak as much to the quality of the work as the quantity in terms of how many people have read the books.

Just because a story is widely-read does not make it a good one.

My evening was spent over at Moxie's restaurant, just a short walk away from my apartment. I was there to celebrate the departure( planned and pleasant )of two of my Staples coworkers who are leaving for new life out on the East Coast for a few years. It was a lovely gathering, with many shared stories and much laughter. I even received a compliment from one person, who said( and I quote! ): "I want to write a book about you, because you say so many interesting and intelligent things." WOW!

How rare are compliments like those, I ask you?

It was just a great evening and like all such, they are both too rare and end too soon. That said, it was a big( yet so worthwhile! )chunk out of my usual blog-time and I raced home to get to work to have this done in time for just a little past midnight. Which I succeeded in, but only by the barest of margins.

So, you're welcome, and good night!

See above - I've had a FULL weekend( I worked Saturday unexpectedly at the old job )and along with my other projects / tasks, I'm beat but pleasantly so. Have a great week!