A long-delayed update on my viewing habits- and with the strike soon to be bringing the TV season to a juddering halt, I may soon have to start babbling on about vintage Doctor Who again. Anyhow, here’s what I’ve been getting up to – fear the spoilers…
Pushing Daisies, Gossip Girl, Californication, Chuck, Reaper, Dexter, Life…
There are Advance Reading Copies of Iain Banks’ new SF novel flying around.
I haven’t got one. And I’m unlikely to get one.
Grrr….
It’s official. I’ve just started work on a novella. It’s part of a series that’s been bouncing around in my head for a while – and at least two of them I have to write, just to find out if I can. My novel was (and being able to talk about it in the past tense is just weird…) a fun, frothy sci-fi romp with lots of comedy. What I’m writing is bleak dark fantasy with a sexual edge, and it’s messed up in a whole variety of ways. It’s currently playing like a mixture of Carmen, Oldboy and The Doom Generation, by way of City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer (which, to anyone familiar with all those stories, is probably making no sense whatsoever), but it’s been sitting in my head for so long that I need to get it out. I’m trying to write some other short stuff mainly because I need to finish some stuff. I’m currently waiting for feedback on the novel… and the wait is a killer. I’d rather have something to occupy myself with, and I need to finish something before I start the next novel.
The cuddly Cthulhu sitting on my desk is telling me that it’s time for bed. Automatically rising at 7AM thanks to the sunrise (I usually sleep with an eyemask, but it’s gone missing) will do that to a guy…
More Heroes episodes- and while there may be a few improvements, we are still drifting into the arena of the mediocre. Fear the spoilers…
For the last two weeks, I’ve spent most of my life watching movies. I’ve never really felt like I’ve been able to tackle a film festival and use it to its best advantage, but I certainly got more out of the London Film Festival than I’ve ever managed before. So, in the spirit of fair play and spreading information, here’s a breakdown of everything I saw…
Movies for breakfast, movies for lunch, and movies for dinner…
I’m back. And hopefully, this time, for good.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my writing over the past few weeks, and one of the things I’ve got to stop myself from doing is using easy excuses not to write. There’ll always be fantastic reasons not to write, but writing is the only thing that I actually feel that I was put on this Earth to do. I may have major motivational and confidence problems, but the only way around them is to write and write, and then write some more.
I’m starting some stuff over the next week that’s hopefully going to build me up to my next novel. I’m also, however, going to be doing more with this blog. TV Eye will be returning soon, and I’ll be writing up some of my adventures over the past couple of weeks. The more I achieve, the better I’m going to feel.
Lots to do. And not enough time to do it…
Radio silence is happening in this case because I’m rushed off my feet by the tidal wave that is the London Film Festival. The four hour daily commute to and from London is giving me all kinds of fun (although I was able to stay over at a friend’s flat for the past couple of nights), and I’ve also seen a large number of films- most of which have been good, but most of which have also had maudlin, tragic or downright miserable endings. It’s a habit I’ve noticed of the LFF- Edinburgh never seems to have quite as many downers, but I at least had an OTT CGI animated adventure called Vexille last night, which was as strong an argument for the coolness of style over substance that I can think of. Today I get to go home- and I’m officially giving myself Tuesday off before leaping into another week of screenings. November 1st seems a very long way away…
One relief is that the new Mac OS (entitled Leopard) is finally being released on Friday, meaning I can update my computer, obtain all kinds of writing software I couldn’t with my current version, and carry out all kinds of computer-related funkiness- even though it has meant that, thanks to the Mac’s occasionally eccentric software names, I’ve been baffling George with outbursts like “If I get Leopard, I’ll finally be able to use Toast!”
Right. Time to go. More movies to watch…
To keep myself sane, here’s some shorter looks at the continuing shows. As ever, fear the spoilers…
Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Reaper, Bionic Woman, Journeyman, Moonlight, Life
Saxon Bullock 