If I Were In Charge

Just saw another trailer for season 2 of Falling Skies.

I thought the first season was entertaining and watchable, but not exactly ground-breaking on screen (they have a great transmedia push happening online, though, which is definitely a step in the right direction).

S1 ended with a few revelations. . . the skittery aliens were “harnessed”, too, and there appeared to be tall & skinnies acting as the spider overlords.

And then there was the part where Noah Wylie left with the aliens to have a little powwow.

Okay, fine, whatever.

According to the trailer, NW is going to come back and have to deal with lack of trust, what are the aliens’ *real* plans, etc, etc, etc.

 

Now, I think they have a great opportunity here to do something a little bit more interesting.  I’m hoping that they’ve already considered this and I’m just reading their cues (in which case I will waste no time claiming victory over All The Things, of course).

Anyway–

History is a major theme of the show.  NW is a history prof, the humans couch their efforts in terms of a new revolution, small determined band of freedom fighters, and so forth.

I would love for the humans to become a metaphorical equivalent of the Native Americans, with the aliens becoming the chaotic neutral of the European colonists.  Some good motivations, some bad motivations, but either way–here to stay.

Maybe the skitters are under Slender Men control, and season 2 will see them forging alliances with the humans to throw off the yoke (hyuk hyuk), and all the usual blah blah blah, but wouldn’t a season 3 where society –a human/alien society–starts to integrate and rebuild itself be just absolutely *yummy*???

 

She’ll start getting ideas . . . and Thinking. . .

I have Thoughts today.

And, like always happens when I have Thoughts, there is no one around to Think them to.  People reallly need to reprioritize.

1.  If I were to create a Halloween costume as a “Speshul Snowflake”, and wore a helmet because I couldn’t come up with any other way to visually signify “speshul”, would that make me insensitive to the mentally handicapable?

What if I retconned my helmet rationalization to symbolize how overprotective the snowflake’s parents were during their delicate formative years?

2.  For the ladies in the audience–why does *every* sports bra, when pulled over the head, wrap itself up into a ball *just* out of reach on that line between your neck and your back?

Is there a way to prevent this?  Was it a technique they taught all of us in eighth grade PE, and I was out sick that day?

3.  If I’ve been following a published author as they did a really screamingly awesome close reread and analysis of another author’s books, am I wrong to be afraid to read the first author’s original work?  ‘Cause I’ve totally got a though-process crush on the first author and I’m afraid the prose won’t stand up to it.

4.  There’s got to be a portmanteau for the concept of being starstruck by a writer’s awesome non-prose writing.  If society has time to coin “bromance” “bennifer” and “fangasm”, surely they can put their squirrely little heads together to find one for me here.  Someone get TMZ on the phone.

5.  Is it still possible, in the current climate, to create a compelling transmedia work that does *not* involve video or audio components without leaning on the crutch of a mainline prose narrative?

6.  Seriously, world, how am I supposed to dress for a ‘black-tie-optional’, sunset wedding *on a beach*?  Also, I’m over prints.

7.  Is it better to overpromise yourself so you have a high standard to drive you to achieve, or to manage expectations so anything delivered is seen as exceptional?

8.  Why is the hair on one side of my head longer than the other?  One side falls out of the ponytail holder, and the other stays.

9.  I’m not, generally speaking, a fan of Jessica Simpson, and I would not really want someone who sees me on the street to think that I was someone who was driven to emulate Jessica Simpson, per se.  However, if I pick up *one more* item in a store because it’s REALLY FREAKIN’ CUTE, and it’s got a Jessica Simpson label, my brain will run away from the congnitive dissonance.

10.  “Cognitive Dissonance”–not so easy to spell, actually.

11.  In the eternal battle between Taking Clothes Out of the Dryer, and Folding Clothes to Put Them Away, which side is good and which side is evil?  I really need to know.

12.  I saw a cube truck on the highway tonight.  I immediately assumed it was coming from a Storage Wars auction.  Then I actually *listened* to the thought and was worried about myself.

13.  Why is “metrics” so fun to say, but so difficult to actually go through and quantify?  I quite like Metrics, until I remember how much math is required.

14.  There’s a link between being ambidextrous and being synesthetic.  That just has *fascinating* implications.

15.  I think my world would be better if Animaniacs were still in production.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I was never one to listen to teachers’ complaints about summer vacation, or rather, the information students lost over said vacation.  In school I either knew it and remembered it, or didn’t.  There never seemed to be a lot of slippage.

Today, though, I’ve turned on my computer after a three-day weekend where I actually *didn’t* work, for once, and I have jack-all idea of what’s going on.  The notes I made on my Friday morning conference call are completely indecipherable, and I’m pretty sure my Outlook is missing a bunch of emails I sent out, but I can’t definitively remember which ones.  The only reason I *am* pretty sure they’re missing is the deep sense of  “I finished every bloody thing Thursday night” satisfaction I felt all weekend.

Conference call in seven minutes!  This should be full of blank stares and confused stammers!

It’s like Madonna! Madonna! Madonna!

I did it.

Just got back from my first training run . . . for my first 5k!

Yeah, I'm pretty amazed myself.

 

And because we all know that I can’t start a project with anything resembling sense, I chose one that’s only a month away.

What???  Nic said I should be fine.

Okay, no, so that’s not persacktly what she said.  The conversation actually was more like, “Um, that’s kind of soon.  Are you sure?  If you want, we’ll plan something together for next time you’re here.”  (Clearly, she sees me as a person in dire need of close supervision an inspirational figure.)

Then I told her where the run was, and *that’s* when she said. . .

“Yeah, you’ll be fine.”

Because she understands that NOTHING is more properly motivated than . . .  er . . . a properly motivated me.  Ahem.  Yeah.

I would SO pay extra if they had a plane take off behind us during the run.

Turn the Page

For the most part, I’m far more likely to be writing about adventures, rather than chasing them myself. Truth be told, I’m a bit of a home-body.

There’s also a bit of a gypsy streak running through me, though, and when it rises I’m suddenly restless, reckless, and have an immediate need to wander.

I’ve learned, in time, what most of my triggers are, and can either avoid or indulge them to keep me (marginally) productive and (supposedly) focused on my work.

Lately I’ve been writing steadily, and I tend to have a few songs for every story that serve as induction points into that particular world. It’s not about the lyrics–more a particular guitar riff or bass line that has same kind of emotional echo that I need for the story.   I’m not really musical in everyday life, so I couldn’t really describe it. The point is, I haven’t found a guaranteed induction for this story yet, but the mood is all classic and southern rock . . . Skynyrd, Foghat, the Eagles, ZZ Top, etc.

I don’t have a whole lot of those selections in my personal library, so I’ve been wearing out my Pandora station listening for good hook songs to download and add to the newest writing playlist.

Tonight I was negotiating a tricky bit of scene with two characters that weren’t being at all helpful, and I was so focused on the writing that I had completely zoned out of the music, until I realized that whatever song was playing was definitely the key hook for the story. Period. No further questions to be asked or answered.

Damn, damn, double-and-triple damn. It was that Bob Seeger song about being on the road. Yeah, one of the two songs that I’m not allowed to listen to unless I’m actually on my way to the airport for a trip, because otherwise I’m useless.

All this to say–clearly, we writers must suffer for our craft, and if I’m going to suffer, it’s patent fact that you poor blog readers will suffer along with me.

Edit: I wrote and posted this, then headed to bed. As I was zoning out, running through the day in my head, I realized that besides my gypsy road song, I’d also decided to train for a 5k (baby steps!) and write a game. Yeah, definitely headed for a restless streak.

It’s Me! It’s Me!!!

If you’re on DirecTV, stop what you’re doing RIGHT NOW and turn to channel 111.

Play the Immortals trivia game.

Stop and celebrate with me.

I wrote that!  It’s such a small, small thing–only four questions, but it marks my next real step into transmedia-style work, and it’s SUCH A HUGE deal to me.

Like, champagne and roses huge.  Trips around the world huge.  Trips around the GALAXY huge.

Okay, gotta go call everyone I know now.

Wuzzles, To Me!

This morning, I declared war on those bitter divide-y pieces in grapefruit.

The Face of the Enemy.

In a surprise ending, I won.

Yeah, kinda like that.

What a twist!

Enquiring Minds

How the devil do people make whistling sound like anything?  I can produce three different notes, max, and one of them’s flat.  (the other one’s sharp.)

(I googled “Whistling”, but this video was more fun.)

Thought process

Camped out in an auditorium thinking about cool, innovative storytelling? Yeah, this is a perfect afternoon.

The More You Know

What you don’t know is that I’d just finished a long, clever, funny, eloquent, breathlessly perfect post about being here at DIYDays.

Then I decided I needed artwork and jumped pages, totally not thinking about confident and secure that my post would auto-save.

Seriously, it was a masterwork of the English language. You would have wept tears of pure joy that you had the blessing of reading it.

(Have I belabored my point quite enough yet?)

The true irony is that this is me trying to write-through DIYDays, because after years of attending cons, symposiums, seminars, and workshops, I have notebooks chock-full of notes and insights to be “worked into a post later”.

Ahem.

Posting now. Ain’t progress beau-ti-ful, folks?