talula

On Wednesday I saw...

Svend at the Film Archive, where together we watched a short documentary about an old Swedish couple called Swedish Tango. It was very nice and sweet and it made me want to dance and it made me very happy to be in a loving relationship and everything.

Then I met up with my Angel-in-Law and purchased silky polyester in brown with green and cream spots all overlapping on each other. Then we came back and Lee and I saw The Dark Knight which, at the risk of being terribly unhip I have to say I didn't love.

I can't quite yet put my finger on why I didn't love it, it's partly because it was such a very bleak movie that it wasn't much fun to watch, and it's partly because I didn't feel like it was a story about Batman at all, more a movie about the GCPD and Harvey Dent, and although I really thought Heath was a very good Joker I just....meh. Plus, it really needed an edit.

So, after that we had Nando's for dinner, and played some kick-ass Rock Band and then I met up with Mr Svend again for The Man From London, which really, re-reading the write up, I should have known better. Svend has already mentioned that it was slow. I was going to do with an understatement of 'it's not pacey'. In fact, I was so tempted to leave when I realised that the opening shot of a boat was in fact going to last five minutes.

It was very artfully made, to be sure, and there was an interesting story in there, but I think that if it was up to me it would be roughly an hour shorter. I was pleased that Lee had not fallen for my madness and got a ticket, because he would have complained.

Thursday I just saw one movie at the cinema, and I very nearly didn't go, but I'm glad I did. It was The Universe of Keith Haring and it was upbeat and fun and cool, and I remembered just how much I love his work. He seemed like a good person. The doco was pieced together from interviews with his friends and family and footage of Keith himself. Yoko Ono was very cool, she talked about his funeral. It made me want to paint and to alter tshirts and to make things for the people I love. And take photos, and sew stuff.

I did some shopping and then came home to type. My superhero chicklit is up to 46, 238 words, so yay me.

Then it was some more Rock Band and people came over and we watched another movie for movie night.

PoF: Gala
CO: Now to look at the goodies on the online Keith Haring account.

Things I Love Thursday

Nice and early today :)

• I love Rock Band and I love that I have gotten past a couple of mental/physical blocks on drumming and bits that used to confuse the hell out of me now make sense. It's good to notice that your skills are improving. I also love buying new clothes and shoes for my sprites.

• I am grateful for Time off work when I am not feeling sick, and can get stuff done. I have big plans for today, yesterday I saw a couple of movies and bought fabric for my dress for the Windy Lindy swing ball and my Angel-in-law is starting work on it now....exciting! I also posted a book someone won off me and changed the sheets on the bed and played Rock Band and finished reading....

• Once Upon a Time in the North is a little shot novel by Phillip Pullman, set int the world of His Dark Materials. It's about a young Lee Scoresby and his first meeting with Iorek Byrnison. It's very good if you like those characters, which I do. I got it out from the library, but if you buy it you get a 'rally to the North Pole' board game with it.

• I love that nightfall is getting later, it really makes a difference to me if the sun is still out at 5.30pm, it means that summer is actually coming and I won't be trapped in midwinter forever. Sometimes I forget these things.

• My friends and family. It's nice to see so much of Svend during the festival, as well as a few other dedicated film festivaller friends. Plus aforementioned Angel-in-law making me a dress for no payment, and bonding with Lee's sister as a result of taking up swing. I really am lucky to have so many lovely people in my life.

Honourable mentions: Getting into bed with clean sheets and having a warm night under a flannel sheet and a polar fleece blanket, letting myself not write and not feeling guilty, snuggling, hot chocolate, fresh scones, oaty hotcakes, legwarmers, laughing.

Please do share your list of happy-making things!

Tuesday movie

Another movie that made me sad, thematically very similar to The Savages was And when did you last see your father?

This movie is bound to come back, seeing as how it stars Jim Broadbent, Colin Firth, Juliet Stevenson and Gina McKee (who was in Notting Hill). It's a movie about living with an overwhelmingly blustering, loud, embarrassing, overbearing Father and coming to terms with losing someone you both love and hate.

Jim Broadbent is diagnosed with terminal cancer in the start of the movie, and son Colin Firth moves in to help his mum care for him. Much of the movie is flashbacks to childhood and the various good and bad moments that make up a life. Family secrets are explored also.

As you would expect from the cast, it is very well acted and really a fantastic movie. Mostly lighthearted, the theme of death is still present most of the time and it becomes very emotional indeed.

Highly recommended.

Then I came home and we borrowed Rock Band and started a new band called Daddy Issues 2.0 in honour of Veronica Mars and the movies from the past few days. And since we're unlocking songs for our PS3 we played a lot of low tier songs incredibly well. I drum with Jenni Talula, an anime fairy and Lee made another guitarist called Lee Clapton. Fun times.

I have the next few days off work, and although the weather is shockingly bad I intend to enjoy them very much.

To do: Tshirt surgeries for Trade Me
Rock Band practice, working on getting to expert level on drums
Lots of writing of novel
Visiting parents
Blogging
Writing up some roleplaying stuff
Visit Te Papa?
Attend Film festival day time screenings
See The Dark Knight

Lee has my cold. It is affecting him pretty badly...I won't say he's malingering just yet though, because I remember that Thursday and Friday last week I wasn't feeling that crash hot.

PoF: not up
CO: fun time holiday!

Monday night movies

Lee bought a Playstation 3 on the way home from work yesterday. We weren't able to mess around with it for too long though, we had to go to Brooklyn for a couple of film festival movies at the Penthouse.

How best to explain Fighter?

Ways in which Fighter is exactly the same as Bend it Like Beckham.

• Asian teenage girl loves a sport and is forbidden to play it by her family.
• Father wants teenage girl to be a doctor. excel academically.
• Teenage girl has an older sibling who is getting engaged, but the fiance's family is very strict and teenage girl's playing of forbidden sport destroys engagement.
• Teenage girl falls in love with a boy connected to the sport who is not of a race her parents will approve of.
• Teenage girl excels at forbidden sport and shows her worth that way.
• Teenage girl is dramatically torn between her culture and her passion for forbidden sport

• Lead girl is Turkish, not Indian and the movie is set in Denmark, not England, her family is Muslim instead of Sheik. Sikh.
• The forbidden sport is Kung Fu
• Older sibling is a brother
• White boy connected to sport is not as hot as Jonathan Rhys Meyers
• Rather than getting her family to approve of her excellence in sport, Aicha 'won' by losing to the Turkish boy who is mean to her.
• Fighter had ninjas in it.
• Fighter was neither as fun or uplifting as Bend it Like Beckham.

Following a dinner of UpandGo and cheezels, we saw The Savages.

This movie wasn't as funny and lighthearted as the write up and the first 20 minutes implied it would be. It was actually a very sad, introspective look at what it's like when your parents grow old and senile. Laura Linney and Phillip Seymour Hoffman were fantastic, utterly believable as siblings. Both sweet, damaged, neurotic characters.

I loved this movie, it's really fantastic, but yeah, sadder than the black comedy we had thought we were in for.

PoF: hyperactive
CO: salad?

The weekend's movies

Animation for Kids. This is the first year in forever, maybe ten years, where I have made the decision not to see Animation Now! There's just too many boring annoying wanky ones. On the other hand, the kids collection is always fun, vibrant and story oriented. Therefore much better viewing.

I enjoyed this collection a lot actually, there was a very cool one called 'The Goat Who Ate Time', I liked 'Animatou' with all the different animal styles, the gorgeous look of 'Tôt ou tard' about a squirrel and a bat and the fun of 'A Sunny Day'.

I also really liked Homage to the grip (actual video!) Because it is fun and cute and colourful and has drama and neat music.

Max & Co is a Swiss/French stop motion animation feature about a city of animals and a corrupt corporation. There are also themes about genetic engineering, love, and the redemption of a deadbeat father.

It was very stylish and coherent, the whole thing just looked great and all the characters were so very cool. Plus, the feline lady Cat looked a lot like Giffy.

Robin Hood. I don't think I had ever seen an Errol Flynn movie before this, I liked it. It was very OTT and campy and silly but great fun. I liked realising that they cast someone not as pretty as Errol Flynn to play Will Scarlet, and the kind of random reactions people had at various times. My favourite bit was when Prince John, Guy of Gisborne and an evil bishop are conspiring to kill King Richard, they finish up and see a skirt corner disappear - Lady Marian has been eavesdropping! They follow her a little way. Prince John says "She might have heard us." The others agree, they all stare after her ominously, then as one, turn and go back the way they came.

Yeah, because if someone overhears you plotting treason, it's probably fine, right?

After that I met Svend, Amphigori and Lamprey and we saw Mongol . The story of the childhood and adolescence of Genghis Khan and his rise to power. It's the first of a projected trilogy and I will want to see the next ones. It was a bit slow, but the actors all had a lot of charisma and were very engaging. Very very pretty Mongolian landscapes.

Let the Right One in is the story of a 12 year old boy who is being bullied at school, who makes friends with the girl who moves in next door. The girl is a vampire. As you can imagine, it was dark and scary and vicious, she was a very hungry 12 year old vampire. It was exceptionally well made, creepy and dark and shocking, and very disturbing as their relationship developed. It also had some very tender moments to balance it out.

I'm not in a hurry to see it again, but I definitely recommend it to horror fans.

Cinderella on Ice

In contrast to Evie's entry on the same show, here's how I thought the story of Cinderella on Ice went. Note to self, buy the programme first next time. Don't assume you know the story!

Cinderella's mother dies and she is very sad. Luckily her kind father puts her on a magical flying bed.

Ten years later a carnival comes to town and charms everyone, including attractive velvet coat guy. Cinderella dances with everyone in town, not sure if she was sleeping with everyone or leading on all the boys or just very friendly. Her father has remarried a fabulously dressed but mean woman who doesn't really want to dance with him and encourages her daughters to exclude Cinderella.

Cinderella and her Dad have a very close relationship but he doesn't seem to realise that she's being bullied. He is amazing and can skate while carrying two other people.

The carnival brought Cindy's Gypsy Godmother to town and she causes all the clocks to go haywire. Cinderella's father it turns out, is a watchmaker and stays up all night with his two apprentices trying to battle the crazy clocks. But they don't come out to dance so it's useless.

There's this whole bit where they put on a ballet, which was a clever way to re-use the Swan Lake costumes from last year I think. Cinders is the best at dancing and falls in love with a buff ballet guy up until she sees velvet coat guy who has come to inspect the dancers with his father the Mayor of town. One of the stepsisters fails at being Odette so Cinderella gets to do it and then everyone loves her even more because she is the most awesome.

Celebratory/Angsty romantic ice dancing from Cinderella and Velvet coat where they keep missing each other. A bit like that Kylie and Jason music video from the 80's.

In the morning the Mayor is giving everyone invites and Cinderella gets one but the stepsisters don't because they don't want to talk to the mayor, which is weird because they are in love with his son. Stepmother tells them off and they all pretend to include Cinderella and accept her so that they can steal her invitation.

Cinderella runs crying to the gypsy who can help but warns that if she stays past midnight she will invoke the 13 o'clock, which involves fire and terror and badness. Personally I think 13 o'clock is the best character ever and needs to be in every story I write from now on. People with creepy symbols on sticks march about for way too long before making their symbols into a carriage that glows like magnesium. It was very ominous.

*interval*

A reminder of the gypsy's warning: personifications of each hour on the clock do a dance.

At the ball everyone can just come in because apparently the invitations don't matter. Velvet coat has a new silvery velvet coat and can't wait to show it off to Cinders, but she hasn't arrived yet. There is lots of dancing. The town dressmaker and the mayor try to find the perfect woman (i.e. Cinders) by looking under the masks of all the ladies. Ooh err.

Cinderella and the gypsy show up and dance about. Velvet coat guy has to dance with the stepsisters and one of them makes him fall down (not on purpose) and then he is dancing with both and whacks them into each other so that they fall down. Which is kind of mean, but they won't leave him alone because they are like Twilight fans or something.

Velvet coat and Cinderella get to dance together at last and they have an awesome time and everyone else kind of disappears like in the Pride and Prejudice movie where it's just the two of them in the crowded room.

Then all the boys did a dance together and Velvet coat guy did this awesome ice skate jig and it was cool. Then ohnoes, it was 12 o'clock and I was all like, if the gypsy is right there why doesn't she just remind Cinderella not to stay too late but she left it until like a minute before 12 to mention it and it was too late by then. Cinderella had to cope with all the clock hours coming to the ball and being scary and then 12 o'clock chased her and then the whole clock kind of ate her.

Somewhere in there her shoe came off and I can't remember who got it off her, it could have been her father who was trying to stop 13 from stealing her, or it could have been 13 trying to catch hold of her. Anyway she had to skate on one foot.

Velvet coat gets the shoe and goes into the town square where everyone is very sympathetic to his plight but is too busy going home to get nookie to help him. The street sweeper tries to offer him nookie but he says no.

In the morning the dressmaker invites all the girls to try on the left behind boot but their feet are all wrong. Watching women skate with just one boot is a bit nerve racking. The stepsisters come to try on the boot and Velvet coat vetoes them subtley to the dressmaker, she tried the boot on their feet backwards so they definitely wouldn't win.

The gypsy invokes the alive clock and they return Cinders through a trapdoor int he stage. She fits the boot and there is much happy dancing.

I'm pretty sure Cinderella's father and the gypsy are in love by this point, because he gives her his pocket watch and did a 'love' gesture dance, but she has to leave with the carnival. Besides, he's already married.

Then everyone else disappears too so that Velvet coat and Cinderella can have a romantic 'now we are in love' dance in which they are so happy they fly in the air quite a bit. It was very pretty.

The End.

But then the ice show dancers did an encore, which was awesome because it was just everyone doing their best tricks again. So good.

PoF: abed
CO: getting better

glurk

My throat is full of gunk. My brain is still fluff, my nose continues to run.

On the upside, it is now the weekend, and all I have planned for today is to sit in darkened theatres and be entertained.

From Cleolinda, the terrifying behaviour of Twilight fans is collected here. I especially recommend the video of Robert Pattinson's reaction to the panel he appeared in.

Empties is the story of an old teacher who retires after wringing out a smelly sponge on an annoying student's head. For the fourth time. Unable to remain still (or at home with his wife) he tries doing other jobs. It's good and funny and warm and the lead's machinations with those around him (match-making and subtle steering) were nicely done.

I liked it a lot.

After we saw that Lee and I had an antipasto platter at Stellar, which was nice. I especially liked the garlic bread and the artichoke.

Work yesterday was hard, not because of work, but because of my state of brain fuzz. I know I was busy all day but I don't know what I actually got done. Didn't make it to the wrestling like I had wanted to, because all day I was fighting not to just fall asleep. Well, I'll go to the next one.

I read the second book of the Boston Jane series, which was much more satisfying because she wasn't as whiney. She also talks about craft and baking, therefore I think Giffy should read them. I have the third one ready to read but the second Monster Blood Tattoo book is due back at the library first, so I am reading that now.

Vicks remains my friend.

PoF: in bed
CO: can I get stuff done today or should I take it easy?

Squee free stuff!

I got a letter to say that a courier hadn't managed to deliver a package to my house from overseas. I thought it was a present from Giffy, which would have been awesome, but what I got was a free book from Meg Cabot!

It's Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: volume 2 and a little white board for my own rules. So cute. The book is an uncorrected proof but it's shiny and colourful and pretty, I put myself down for the giveaway on the off chance they would send it to an adult fan.

Awesome.

Now I just have to get hold of the first book in the series....

Just in case you were planning it, packages don't get delivered to our home address. I think because the mail room is a garage which has its door open all day so there's a security risk. So, if you're going to send me presents, use my work address.

I thoroughly encourage anyone who can to send me presents.

Things I Love Thursday

At home, under a blanket with a constantly running nose, I try to focus my muzzy muzzy mind on what I am thankful for this week.

• The Film Festival. Everything I have seen so far has been exceptionally good, with the exception of To each his own cinema which only had parts of good. Last night we saw Married Life and this morning I dragged my sniffly nose of doom to see Sharkwater. Both as I said, were exceptionally good. Shark water made me want to Save sharks, especially when they put up the estimate that the worldwide shark population has recently decreased by 90%. That's not a small percent.

  You can see the trailer for it on the official website and see how cute the documentarian is. Also, how cool sharks are, and some of the gorgeous shots of whales, sharks and seals, etc in the image galleries.

• Layers of clothing that keep me warm in the bitter icey cold. It is very bitter and icey out there today. I *heart* my fur lined hoodie.

• Juicy boigers. I am addicted to Burger Fuel. So so good.

• Vicks Vaporub. It clears my nose and allows me to sleep. Plus I love the smell of it.

• I just read the final trade paperback of Y: The Last Man which I liked. The whole series has the feel of an action movie, but a road movie with lots of action in it. I wonder how it will translate to the big screen....I wonder if Shi LeBeouf will be able to portray the Yorick I love from the comic.

• My Lee, who does not judge me but supports me and who I am trying very hard to make life easy for in any way I can, to relieve some of the stress. He's a honey.

• Allysa's bakery have tasty donuts, gingerbread and Belgian biscuits. If it wasn't for Mr Bun it'd probably be my closest bakery as well, well, maybe the Cosy Cake shop would be.
  

Honourable mentions: Via Cleolinda,
Dinosaur in the museum? I'm with the kid, I'd be crying. But it's super cool to watch from the safety of a video! Slow cooker burritos, writing, being inside out of the rain, having a clean house and going to sleep at night when I am warm and safe and comfortable.

PoF: warm layers
CO: blowing my nose

stay a while

Today I posted the first few chapters of Kiki to Longacre. Longacre do not mention how long it will take them to get back to you, so I'm going to forget about it (ha ha) and just see what happens.

I will focus on my current writing, which is going well, even if I am a smidge writer's blocky in terms of the next plot point. I'll get there.

Film festival movies I have seen since I last updated:

Jar City, Icelandic cop movie. CSI: Reykjavik. Svend has already written about it here. I really liked it, for a bunch of reasons which include awesome main characters, twisty strange mystery, funny jokes and intelligent plot.

I also liked it because it made me think of an awesome episode of awesomeness for our PTA game in which my character and Svend's do the whole police procedural thing. So cool.

Ben X is a study of a teenager with Asperger's who has a rich and full life on an MMPORG but is unable to fit in at school, and is in fact, constantly bullied. Morgue has written it up here, but I think I liked it more than he did. Maybe. I really liked all the blending of the online animation and the real world. I loved the main character to pieces, we had insight into his thoughts via voiceover, which helped, since it was an almost silent performance from him.

It was a difficult film to watch, with the bullying and the people being cruel or indifferent. That said, it was worth it. The pay off is awesome.

Do I say awesome too much? I don't know.

At the Kirk's sale I purchased cheap legwarmers, grey ones and red knitted over the knee warmers with silver knitted through. Half price at $8.00 a pair makes Jenni happy. I also bought some gorgeous fine woven grey cotton tights with a vertical line built in. They are soft and lovely and I can't wait to wear them.

I am also a little in love with fresh white men's singlets but even the small is a smidge too big for me, I took up the shoulders by two inches each side. I also bought the new Meg Cabot book Airhead from Borders, then came home and did some writing of new stuff for my chicklit. As I say above I'm a little plot-stuck but I'm not worried. It will come to me.

Tonight: Married Life, featuring Rachel McAdams.

PoF: post-bath warm
CO: sleep is nice

Film Festival day three

I had a lax day on Sunday, Lee got a work call in the middle of the night so we slept in, me til 9am, Lee til 10ish. I got "up", where up means onto the couch with my robe on and got under the duvet in a couch nest, mooched about online and did some typing of What's the Worst That Could Happen?.

Lee's sister and bro-in-law came over for some Shim Shamming, basically we taught Lee and practiced ourselves. It was nice to see them and their babies, both nieces were in good cheerful form, despite some initial, uncharacteristic shyness on Swearing niece's behalf. It was also good to just dance with some other people around. I also made scones in the first time since forever. They were good. Note to self: double batch if you want any left over. Note to self the second: Get a low edged basket for the serving of hot scones.*

At 4.30 I went to see Persepolis which has got some press I think because the Iranian government has disapproved of it. It is an animated autobiography, which I have read the books of, way way back in 2004. The movie was gorgeous, funny, scary and sad. Marjane was around 8 or 9 when the Islamic Revolution changed her way of life, and she is very upfront about her various reactions to that. Very very good.

Tonight: Icelandic cop movie.

PoF: cold feet
CO: burritos for dinner...

*My Mum has one. Whenever we had scones they would be served from within a clean tea towel lined basket. Keeps them warm and rustic.

Film Festival Day 2 - The Big Day

Thankfully I had such a good sleep in that the thought of seeing four movies didn't make me want to cry. I instead felt good yesterday, so that's good.

Lee and I started the day at Sweet Mother's Kitchen, where the wait staff have started to recognise us. *blush* I had a perky nana milkshake (best ever) and waffles with bacon, banana and maple syrup. (Om nom nom.) Lee had mushrooms on toast and a latte and the amazing chef made it all within 15 minutes so even though we only had half an hour between getting there and the first movie it was fine. I *heart* SMK to pieces.

Our first movie was a delight CJ7 was a family movie by the guy who did about a very poor boy (just 6 or 7 years old) and his Dad, the boy goes to a private school where the kids all make fun of him and he is frustrated because he can't have the cool new robot dog everyone else has. The father finds a weird ball thing in the dump (he doesn't realise it comes from a UFO) and brings it home for the boy to play with. It turns out it's an alien version of a robot dog and just about the cutest CGI I've seen in ages. The beautiful thing is that we were given plushies of it at the entrance to the theatre, so I was watching the movie while petting my own CJ7.

It was a surprising movie, there was quite a lot of kind of shocking cruelty and some very upsetting stuff, but it was all resolved very nicely. If it hadn't been for said cruelty I would say it was the best kid's movie ever, but as it stands I'll just say that I did enjoy it, but if I watch it again I might fast forward through some bits. But then I'm a wuss so you might not have the same issue. It was a great film and I love my plushie. Lee enjoyed it, but thought the CGI for the CJ7 character wasn't good enough.

We had about an hour after that to get from the Paramount to the Penthouse (it was a tour-the-cinemas day for us.) So Lee brought his book and I brought a notebook and we got a good park in Brooklyn.

O'Horten was a gentle movie about a man called Odd Horten (best name ever) who has been a train driver for nearly 40 years and is retiring at 67. There wasn't really a plot at all, it was just us watching what he does with his time and the way he reacts to various silly scrapes that he gets into or witnesses. My favourite bits were: Odd is having a beer at a quiet little restaurant. Two plain clothes cops come in, talking loudly and barge into the kitcen. There are sounds of a struggle and 'you're coming with us', they emerge again with the chef in handcuffs and leave with him. The elderly waiter follows with the chef's bag, he comes back into the restaurant, looks around gravely and says 'it should go without saying but I will not be taking any more orders for food.'

My other favourite bit was an incredibly surreal sequence on a sloping iced over road. Man walks out carrying a huge salmon on a rope, another man slides past on his bottom, heading down the hill holding a briefcase and looking very serious and severe.

Lee found it boring, but I enjoyed the measured pace and slow build to Odd figuring out what he really wanted to do with his new found time.

We had a couple of hours before our next one and did the food shopping. I managed to put together another surgerised tee. Lee made tea.

I've never bee to the film archive before. Their popsicles are overpriced and their seats are hard. Other than that it was a good experience.

To Each his Own Cinema was a collection of three minute films commissioned by the Canne festival of their favourite directors. (All men except for Jane Campion). The films had to be about cinema. Many of them were almost without words, many were unexplained, and those ones I found kind of hard to appreciate. My favourites were definitely the ones that were easy to understand, accessible. The one with Lars Von Trier killing a man who won't stop talking during the movie was great, Fellini's 'Cinema Erotique' had an awesome punchline, the one with the guy trying to steal a handbag, only to be caught when the woman who's handbag it is looks for a tissue, she then uses his hand to caress her own face and comfort herself. I also really liked the one about Movie Night in a small Chinese town and the two guys singing in Brazil. Jane Campion's one was weird. Overall, I wouldn't watch it again

Finally we made our way through the bucketing rain to the Embassy to see In Bruges. This is a film about two hitmen, one young one old and jaded who have been sent to Bruges ("it's in Belgium") to hide out following a botched hit. Colin Farrell is fantastic as Ray, the younger one, incredibly bored by Bruges and anxious to get back to London but also very damaged and vulnerable. Brendan Gleeson is the older one, and a thoroughly likeable guy. They move around the city sightseeing and having deep conversations. To say any more would be spoilerific and this is a fantastic movie so I don't want to give anything away.

Suffice to say: awesomely acted, just a virtuoso performance from Farrell, beautiful photography, funny jokes, clever plot. Ralph Fiennes as their boss Harry, who swears a lot. Go and see it when it comes back, ok? Oh and Fleur Delacourt is in it too.

PoF: warm robe
CO: Lee is oversleeping but he was up in the night on a work call. I will leave him be.

Doing what I love

After reading this inspiring article that Gala linked to How to earn your first love dollar i.e. making money from doing what you love, I have had a couple of intriguing ideas.

If I was to offer the final, polished manuscript for Kiki to people I know for a small fee, would you be willing to pay for it? How much would you be willing to pay?

Must do for the love dollar making:
- more tshirt surgery for Trade Me
- Set up an etsy store and see if I get more interest through there
- rewrite 'I Know, Right?' for selling
- Write up 'Robyn Hood and Her Merry Maids', a scenario for Best Friends, in case someone somewhere would be interested in purchasing that.
- Keep on keeping on with my novel writing!

I wonder if anyone would be interested in paying me for my roleplaying writing. Well, there's only the one way to find out :)

Off Topic, here's the website for the Earth movie I saw yesterday. Love Earth is full of the beautiful nature photography. May send some ecards now.

Second film fest movie

A Complete History of my Sexual Failures was an awesomely entertaining documentary. It was gut-wrenchingly honest on the part of the film maker, and so very painful in lots of different ways.

The premise was basic, interview all his exes and try to find out what's wrong with himself that he keeps getting dumped. Getting the exes to agree to be filmed was difficult to say the least, but his Mum organised some for him in the end. So cute.

Along the way it became clear that he was having trouble with erectile dysfunction and the middle part of the movie is dedicated to trying to sort that out (doctor's visit, we see the uh, whole thing, accupunture, tantric massage, a visit to a dominatrix, viagra....). As I said, he was brutally honest all through. You couldn't help but feel sympathy for him.

It was by turns shocking, endearing, emotional and hilarious. I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't have an aversion to honesty. In fact it was so good I started to wonder if it was all an act, but well, have a look at the website and make up your own mind. Complete History.

It is screening again in the film festival on the 21 July at 4:15pm at the Paramount.

PoF: bed
CO: Optimism

ten years huh

Last night, for the first time in ten years, I threw up. I really really hate throwing up so I don't tend to put myself into situations where it might happen, I intentionally don't get that drunk and generally if I am feeling nauseous I quell it with my iron will not to throw up.

But last night was different, despite being exhausted I was unable to get to sleep. At various times I couldn't sleep because I was too hot, the air in the room was too cold, my neck ached, my jaw ached, I couldn't get comfortable on my pillow, I had stabbing pain behind my eyes and a sinus ache.

Around 12.45am my stomach started being weird and I thought it was diarrhea starting but it wasn't. Turns out even after ten years your body knows what to do if you're going to vomit: run to toilet, let it all out, cough....

I only had the one session of it, which is good, but it was pretty full on. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. On the other side, I was able to sleep pretty soon after I was done with that and I slept through til morning more or less.

This morning I have eaten some plain salted chips and drunk some lemonade.

I managed to drag myself to see Earth and confirmed that I really am sick with something there because I kept crying when....anything happened. Here's my thought processes from the movie: Is there anything prettier than a polar bear? Oh, polar bear cubs are the cutest thing in the world. No, baby foxes are. Snowdrops are the prettiest thing in the world, they're really my favourite flower. Is there anything prettier than a wolf? Giant herds of caribou are so beautiful I must cry about it. Caribou, even a baby caribou can outrun a wolf? I didn't know that. The wolf catches up if the caribou loses its footing. Elephants are beautiful, elephant calves are the prettiest thing in the world, herds of elephants migrating *cry*....etc.

It's a seriously beautiful movie, extremely good time lapse photography and also amazing use of satellite footage to show receding snow, forests turning green, the effect of the flood on the Calihari Desert...amazing footage of humpback whales and great white sharks. Just over all breathtaking stuff. Must track down the full series on DVD I think.

Now my stomach is cramping. I am going to have a nap. Please cross fingers for me that there will be no more throwing up.

PoF: warm
CO: relax little stomach, everything will be fine.

Oh and in case you were wondering the last time I threw up, ten years ago was the night I drank too much scrumpy at Susan's house.

Things I Love Thursday

I really need to focus on happiness this Thursday, due to receiving very bad news indeed last night, re: our old apartment. Financial worries FTW!

So let's have a look at some stuff I am actually happy about, and thankful for, and I can cherish instead of freaking out.

• Mail from Giffy, little love letters and souveniers from the Tate Modern gallery, I especially love my ‘work of art’ badge. Also Canada stickers and fake tattoos. I have a sparkly Canada flag on my lappy now. There’s something different, something so much more special about receiving a physical letter from someone you love. I teared up a little reading the lovely things Giffy had written, and it filled me with happiness. I think everyone should send a letter to someone they love, it’s so much easier than saying that kind of thing out loud and you’re giving them a treasure after all.

• I am reading The Devil Wears Prada and it is an astonishingly good read, fast and witty and exciting. I can see that movie has taken a couple of liberties with the details but is ultimately faithful. I’m only a couple of chapters through but I am loving it to bits. Makes me want to go to New York like crazy.

• The Film Festival starts tomorrow, and I have a few days off work so that I can sleep in and see daytime movies. I kind of wish I could take the whole two weeks off like I used to, but it somehow seems so frivolous to me now. I also don’t have enough annual leave so the question is moot anyway. My first movie is called Earth and is a spin-off/reduction of the BBC series Planet Earth. I really loved the ocean one of these that they did a couple of years back, so I’m really looking forward to seeing the footage of whales, wolves, sharks and tigers on the giant Embassy screen.

• Overcoming writing related fear. I have been feeling disheartened about my writing, I think it’s a delayed reaction to the rejection letter actually. I have started imagining bad outcomes, like maybe I’ll never get published and maybe in ten years I’ll still be submitting something no one wants to read. But, I have been pushing through my negative thinking and continuing to write anyway. I have only had one rejection after all, so there’s no reason to give anything up. I have been making myself write as often as I have time for and I have been telling myself to continue.

• This sneak preview of the Twilight movie, showing that when the vampires go to play Mountain top thunder baseball they actually wear baseball uniforms?! How do they be so lame? I also like how people in the comments are complaining that the movie looks "too dark". Because a movie about a girl falling in love with a vampire, set in a town where it always always rains should definitely be all sweetness and light yeah?

• The Shim Sham: demo video
  Which is harder than it looks, when you learn the whole thing in the space of an hour. From never having done it before. But it's a challenge, and that means I feel extra good when I actually get it right. Damn transition from crossover to tappy Annie still foils me when I try to do it fast though. I am also pleased to be learning this because I know Giffy and Erik have learned it, and I feel connected to them.
  

Everyone already knows about this I'm sure, but I did really enjoy it so I link to Joss Whedon's Dr Horrible, which is available free only until the 20th of July.

Honourable mentions: Rock Band 2 tracklist has been released and I am very excited about some of those tracks
and the super sexeh super edition drum kit they’re putting out for it. With actual cymbal bits. The way whenever I go to put in a USB key it’s always up the wrong way, Te Papa was evacuated yesterday so all the school holidays kids and tourists were forced out onto the sunshiney Wellington waterfront. Intentionally mishearing the repeat in Bernard Fanning’s Wish you well as “why’d you give up on Miso soup?”

PoF: abed
CO: trying not to break down with stress

Things I like to dream about

I have a few regular daydreams. Here's some of the 'ideal life' themed ones I've been indulging in lately.

I am a famous writer, Neil Gaiman level of fame, I spend my days writing and answering fan mail. I am invited to speak at schools, take workshops with budding writers and travel to conferences about books.

When I do book tours or conferences I am put up in nice hotels, some times Lee comes with me when I'm invited overseas, places like the States, Europe, etc. Sometimes I go alone and have an adventure. In the hotels I order room service, have long baths and sneak out at night to explore the city I'm in. I like to spend a little longer than I have to at the destination city so that I can look around a bit.

I am somehow rich enough to have an assistant to help me with stuff like housework, sewing and craft. This means I can do more, faster. If I am making a quilt, my assistant may be cutting out more block pieces while I sew, my assistant would definitely do the 'safety pinning the quilt layers together' stage for me.

I could say to my assistant, 'would you mind popping out and getting some cupcakes, oh and a hot chocolate?' and she would say 'sure thing' and then I could remain comfortably seated on the couch and the cupcakes would be brought to me.

My assistant could also handle stuff I really can't be bothered doing like: making the bed, taking out the rubbish, driving our old clothes to the clothing donation bins, grocery shopping and scrubbing the bath.

As a professional movie maker I alternate between directing and acting. The days are long and hard, but having my own trailer on set makes a huge difference. The hotel rooms they put me up in are nice too.

I only make movies that I feel are original and have something new to say. I enjoy directing because I can wear shabby clothes and be comfortable, people listen to me and I can see how everything is coming together as a whole.

I love acting because I like to immerse myself into a character and work hard to portray something real on the screen. It's also fun to do stunts and play with line deliveries. I also enjoy making bloopers...

So how about you? Do you have any daydreams about your ideal life that you would like to share? I'd love to hear them :)

PoF: Dark Knight
CO: Dreams are free

Books I've Read Lately

Besides the comforting Tamora Pierce, I have been reading stuff from the library.

Bride of the Water God vol 1 by Mi-gyong Yun.

It's a very lovely Korean manga about a girl whose village sacrifices her to the water god to break the drought. Instead of dying she is taken to the realm of the water god, where she lives in his palace. It's very good, the characters of the various gods are neat and the art is gorgeous. My only moan would be that the character of the lead is never really established.

Boston Jane: an Adventure by Jennifer Holm.

A young adult novel which is almost a cross between Little House on the Prairie and Bloody Jack. Jane starts off as an uncouth child, goes to finishing school and is basically brainwashed by the school, then decides to follow the man she is in love with to the frontier. Much of the book is taken up with the horror of the sea voyage, which I got sick of pretty fast.
Then it's all about how she has to cope with Being a Lady when there is no civilisation. I did enjoy it, although it was a bit ham-fisted in it's messages and characterisations. The author is a bit in love with certain historical figures that she wrote into the story but yeah, I liked it when I wasn't cursing Jane for being so stupid.
I will probably seek out the sequel.

Fables: The Good Prince Volume 1 is focussed on Flycatcher and I just bought it yesterday, so I haven't read too much of it yet. I like it though, the art is pretty and the characters are like old friends.

It rained lots and lots yesterday but that didn't stop me and Star from going shopping and getting her some new stuff. And I also got some new stuff, even though I don't really need it and am meant to be saving money. Never mind. I did resist buying an awful lot of stuff as well.

I have sold two tshirts on Trade Me, note to self: don't do another $1 reserve auction because no one bids! Must make up some more tees today and list them, I think it's good to grab people's interest while I'm getting so many views. Also, I wrote 11-ish new pages of book yesternight so I'm feeling good about that. Had a bit of a slack week writing wise.

Next blog entry: Things I like to dream about! Coming soon to a blog near you.

PoF: warm
CO: do stuff on the weekend!

Squeeee I love the weekend!

And beer. I like beer a lot!

Fashion pirates!

I also must share the terrible terrible hilarity of the EW Twilight cover in which they plaster a Romance novel heroine Kristen Stewart to a man who used to be hot. Before he died. And was dragged from the grave by horror. I mean seriously, he's supposed to look beautiful, but he looks scarily dead! Look at his hands! Ah ha ha the horror.

and it is also worth checking out the sparkly "fan" version. Oh Twilight. It's so very bad.

PoF: warm
CO: Ok yeah, so I'm a little tipsy.

TiLT

• The blankies that amphgori left for the CS team. I have been living under a warm polar fleece blankie with monkeys on it this week. It makes such a difference to my overly air-conditioned desk.

• Managing to sell stuff.

• Fun news stories: Red Panda adopted by cat has to be one of the cutest things I've seen lately. Bat in your bra?

• This upcoming exhibition at the City Gallery looks amazing. Must go and see it!

• My Tuesday night roleplaying group. It's really been a while since we played a campaign (here defined as any game where we play the same characters for more then six sessions) and I think we're really getting into the deeper emotional roleplaying that I loved in Slayers East. It's neat.

• Swing swing swing dance! Finished our second round of beginner's classes and Lee is ok with continuing. The next class at a higher level running in Wellington is centred on showmanship and performance and has stuff about the Shim Sham in it, which I am excited about because Giffy learned that!

• Writing is fun.
  

RPG - PTA The Other Side quotes

From the last three episodes..

Steve's troll is named The Other One. Trolls are stupid, we have fun when we all get to play trolls. Tony the mobster troll crashes The Other One's family dinner.

Tony: what's your name?
The Other One (asking for help): Mother?
Tony: You're not my mother?
Other One: Aren't I?
Tony: No!
Other One: Are you my mother?
Tony: I don't know.

later in the scene, the mobster trolls are trying to work out what to do with the Other One....Tony: If I wasn't so confused I would suggest he has to be tested. But I'm still not sure if I'm his mother.

The King: You can't reverse psychology me!

Enrico, dashing elder brother to Alfredo: I guess what you've just said has made me realise that I've never felt a true emotion.

Gerald, secretary at the Embassy where Sam interns: Sam. You're a girl. Weird.
Sam: I told you it was complicated.
Gerald: Yeah but I figured you were just being a teenager.
Sam (rolling eyes sarcasm): This *is* completely normal teenage behaviour.
Gerald: That is!...You're a freak.
Sam: Dick.

Addie, tree sprite trying to fit in at the call centre, relating office stories to Embassy staff in order to get a Visa to go to Earth: I distributed dirt under my workmate's desk and planted him in it but it didn't go down well.
Sam: You see? Two cultures colliding is confusing!

Addie to Sam, emo kid: You look like a very nice raccoon.
Sam: thanks?

Not sure who said this, but it's important: The siege on the Earth Embassy has been called off for a nuptial dinner with the Fifis.

(Plot: Alfredo's mother in law laid siege to the Earth embassy because the ab king pro she bought on Earth hasn't made her husband thin. Isaac [Svend's cynical ambassadorial lackey] wasn't very helpful. Alfredo managed to smooth things out by being engaged to the terrifying Fifi heiress.)

Sam is called to the Principal's office because s/he has been selling pre-approved Earth Visa applications at school. The Principal is a centaur, who leans forward to intimidate Sam. There is a thunderclap, Sam switches from girl to boy. The centaur raises one eyebrow. Nothing is said.

Next Ep: Isaac has been kidnapped by men working for The Grand Vizier, who works for Alfredo's father. The Vizier lives in a constant state of pissed off.

The Other One is trying not to be a bad troll: Uhm, Mr Villain? I think you're talking about stealing. (Implied subtext: which is wrong)
Mob boss: stealing is such a nasty word. I prefer something like bank robbery.

Sam's family dinner turns into an argument. Sam: I could move back to Earth, I could move in with the Jones', I mean, they're good people, you know them.
Sam's Dad: She's a drunk.
Sam: Well, no more than you.

Sophie, office assistant at the call centre Addie works at, speaking to an interested orc: It's called Buddhism. I can teach you if you like, it's easy.

Delores (call centre manager): Uh, I hate to be a busy body-
Alfredo: then don't be.

Next episode, all the main characters have been invited to the Nuptials dinner for Alfredo and the Fifi heiress.

Sam's Dad: We want to learn everything we can, we don't want to embarrass Earth.
Isaac: That'll be a change.
Sam's Dad: What, has Sam done something?
Sam: Oh, nice assumption.

Luigi, dumbest mob troll evah: The boss said to me......I forgot.

Alfredo offers The Black Knight a job on his personal bodyguard.
The Black Knight: That's a pretty good offer but.....I'm in telecommunications now.
Alfredo: Fear? You are The Black Knight, fear is unknown to you!
Black Knight: That was before I worked in customer service.

Scary talking plant in Isaac's house: smoking is bad for you. Second hand smoke is bad for *me*. I am now going to chew on your shoes.

Addie has organised a group of Elvis impersonators (because Elvis is Earth's king), who are to perform at the Nuptials dinner.

Delores: You're showing a bit much up front, dear, Elvis didn't show so much cleavage.
Generic Orc girl: well, Elvis wasn't trying to land a royal husband!

My name is Ms Generic, they told me to get a generic Earth name, y'see.

Addie: You tried to mug my friend.
The Other One: No, that troll had two ears. I only have one.

Isaac questions Sam about not being at his/her desk when the bomb at the Embassy went off, Sam was stealing stuff for the black market Visas at the time....Sam: it's alright. I had to go to the room with the stuff in it....it was for school! But it's ok. I'm not doing that project any more.

PoF: Mogwai
CO: procrastination is fun

Bunches of links

I like these Nat Geo undersea creature photos. There's lots of neat photo sets on there actually.

I also appreciate the weirdness of the Simpsons House. So cool and so brain warpy to look at the pictures of cartoons in the real world. Maybe it's just my brain that warps....

This tshirt is pretty neat, threadless continue to have heaps of cool designs but I will not order more! Will not! Well, maybe when they have their next sale....

Best article title ever? Wolverine still vogueing. (link via Cleolinda)

Also from la Casa de Cleo comes this helpful list of the Top Ten things authors shouldn't do on Amazon. Which is something to bear in mind if I ever get published! Seriously, I kind of thought after Anne Rice did the train wreck thing all those years ago people knew better now?
And at least Anne Rice backed herself up by offering refunds if people didn't like her work.

Oh and a little pre-Things I Love Thursday thing that has made me happy this week: Being told that I am an inspiration. It makes me glow with joy.

Late edition, Meg Cabot's latest diary entry in which she talks about having stuff about sex in her books, and why a lot of 9 year old girls want to know about this stuff anyway is pretty awesome. (Scroll down to the second emailed in question if you're not interested in her other stuff.).
PoF: layers
CO: pizza soon?

Rejected

So, today I heard back from HarperCollins. Unfortunately they did not send a letter saying 'OMG yes please send us everything you have ever written for we will pay you millions.'

I got my first rejection letter.

It's a nice one that says 'While an interesting idea...this is not suitable for our list.' It also never says rejected anywhere on it, just that they won't be able to offer to publish it. So that's nice.

I don't feel very sad about it, obviously it would have been nice for them to publish me, but I figure I'll get a few rejections before I get an acceptance. The temptation now is of course to rewrite frantically, but I'm not going to give in to that just yet. I'm going to submit Kiki to a few more publishers and try my luck.

I wonder what I should do with my rejection letter? I kind of want to frame it. I think I'll just put it away somewhere. I feel pleased that they read it anyway, or at least, read the summary. They got back to me nice and fast too, (within a month) so that's all good.

So, I feel a little bit more like a 'proper' author now that I've been officially rejected. I like to think about how J.K. Rowling got twelve different rejection letters before someone took up Harry Potter, it makes me feel warm inside.

PoF: OMG it's freezing.
CO: OMG it's freezing.

48 hours National Finals

First of all, I am very pleased that Giffy appreciated the giant sized letter I got people to collaborate on at craft day recently.

Now, onto my thoughts about the National Grand Finals of the 48 hours film comp 2008.

AUCKLAND
Fractured Radius - THE END - Drama

I thought this was pretty cleverly done actually. Really good use of Kerry Post as perfectionist, reshooting to show the difference between what was actually happening and what was happening in his head.

I liked it.

HAMILTON
Guerrilla Monkeys - SUM OF ALL PARTS - Horror

They showed this one last because that put it latest at night. It was a 'funny' serial killer movie centered on a man performing surgery on an awake woman. I hate torture porn with a vengeance. Why did this get into the finals? Is this really what they want to encourage for future years? And are torture porn and comedy two genres that should really be crossed?

GISBORNE
Kaiti Hill - le dernier jour de Tony (Tony's Last Day) - Drama

A movie made with barbie dolls as the actors, this was an examination of living in another country where you don't know the language. It was pretty good, if kind of off putting visually. Good example of a 48 hours drama, but yeah. Kind of ugly to look at. I don't remember there being a brush in it...

WELLINGTON
Smashing Pants - DARLENE - Juvenile Delinquent

The Wellington winner was a slick and pretty production. A character portrait with a couple of twists and a genuinely touching ending. All that being said, I don't love it. The format of the show managed to spoil the ending by awarding it Best Use of Prop and showing a clip from the end right before we saw the whole movie.

CHRISTCHURCH
Spooce Media: The Real McCoy Agent Post: Or How I Stopped Being Pretentious And Learned To Love Cliche

A better example of using Barbies as actors, this was a pretty good action/adventure spy movie spoof mostly done by just one guy. It had some pretty funny stuff, my personal favourite being the whole soundtrack was sung by the one guy.

DUNEDIN
The Dangly Gruffnuts - TWO BODIES ONE NIGHT - Adventure -

Huh. Another movie about men killing women. I was put off by the opening minute or so where the lead actor couldn't stop smiling even though they had just killed someone and were trying to find a place to dump the body. Great use of Kerry Post, literally throwaway inclusion of prop.

PETER JACKSON WILDCARDS
Team Lense Flare - BEYOND BELIEF - Time Travel

This was formatted kind of like one of those "Real True Stories of Horror" shows but was actually a mockumentary. Stole an idea from Red Dwarf and ran with it for some genuinely funny moments. A guy moving backwards through time was a different spin on the genre. I liked it well enough but I'm not sure I'd want to watch it again in a hurry.

Goodfellas - IN SEARCH OF BIGFOOT - Animal

I really liked this one. It was Forgotten Silver-esque with its serious tone and the dedication of the players to convincing us of the truth. It was very prettily shot with the forest and exciting at the climax. Two thumbs up from me.

Puppy Guts - F*DANCE - Dance

I enjoyed this in the Wellington finals and I loved it the second time, so I think it was a good choice for National winner. It was a clever spoof of the dance genre, set around finger dancing, where people put little shoes on two fingers and then have dance offs. There were some great 80-s movies spoofs (Flashdance FTW!) and a training montage. I'm also very pleased that a Wellington film won the nationals.

Overall I think it was a higher standard than last year but again, I feel that I saw better films in the heats and finals than some of the ones chosen for the Nationals. Maybe I'm just spoiled, living in Wellywood. I was pleased that Grindhouse was an omitted genre this year and I'm kind of hoping they'll do away with horror. It seems to be hard for people to do and be original.

PoF: onesies.
CO: quite sleepy still.

Things I Love Thursday

Brief bullet points of gratefulness this week, because I can't be bothered writing too much while I have people to talk to.

• Being snuggled up under my flannel sheets and all the blankets and being warm.

• Reading old familiar books, I've finished the Alanna books and I am now rereading a couple of Alice books. Comfort reading!

• Feeling like I'm getting the hang of swing dancing and learning getting some pointers on the harder side of things. Swing outs....swing outs are the hard.

• I like my friends :)
  

I also found this awesome 80's theme wesbite Like Totally 80s. It has costume ideas, party tips, all sorts of awesome in a gorgeously 80s design.

Things I've learned about writing

How do you do it? You do it.

You finish what you write.

-words of wisdom from Neil

In November 2006 I started writing Kiki. So that's about 18 months, give or take. There have been numerous times when I felt like I couldn't go on, that what I was doing was pointless or that I was a talentless dreamer.

Along the way I've learned some stuff that I've mentioned piecemeal in this blog or talked to people about. I thought I'd collect up the basic points here for ease.

First thing's first. Don't talk yourself out of starting. This happens a lot. I had heaps of trouble starting Kiki because I was all "I don't know how it's going to end" and "I don't have a good story" etc. You can tell yourself this over and over again and become too scared to do anything at all. So, pushing yourself past the negative voice telling you that you can't do it is the first thing.

Once you've got something on paper it can be easy to put it down and not pick it up again. This is because there is always something else that you could be doing, like housework or craft or reading a book or spending time with loved ones. All of which are valid pursuits, but will not get you anything written. Making a special time when you write works. Even if it's just 10 minutes a day and you get two pages, that's two pages you wouldn't have had otherwise, and the pages do add up.

Writing is hard and it's difficult and you will want to give up. There's no way around this, it's true and all you can do is keep on going. I've noticed that if I'm not getting anything done it's because I'm not in the write mindset yet, I can sit for an hour with a word document open and play around on facebook to avoid writing. It's happened. What I'll do is I'll get up and do something completely different, like housework, craft or spending time with loved ones. Then you get some distance from the procrastination and oftentimes I can come back and get some writing done, once I've unwound.

Write whenever you can. In bed at night instead of reading. In your lunch hour in a quiet place. At a cafe. While you are waiting for someone to turn up. When you have a spare ten minutes before you have to leave the house.

Here's an old link of rules for writing.

From way back at the start of this adventure, a post about motivation.

Other tips: Read a lot, and read in the genre you are writing for to get a feel for the market, the styles, what to put in and what to leave out.

Don't read a book that is too similar to what you are writing. I am putting off reading Soon I will be Invincible because it is a superhero novel. I don't mind reading Batman graphic novels because thematically they are pretty different to WtWTCH but Invincible is a comedic book, like I'm trying to write. So I'm going to wait to read it until I've finished my manuscript. This way I won't inadvertently or subconsciously plagerise it.

Write the way you want to. I love writing longhand in pretty notebooks and then typing it up later. You might want to keep it all digital. You might want to get someone else to do the typing. Find what works for you and then work it.

If this entry's been a bit all over the place or preachy, it's because I meant to post it yesterday (wrote half) but then got distracted by Speed Racer.

PoF: PJs
CO: swing

Some stuff

The Yip Yips from sesame St, all collected up in one place by someone who was terrified of them for some reason. Click me!

I also like this announcement that Rock Band 2 has been confirmed and it's all compatible with Rock Band 1. Darth Fancy releases a press release, they are 'happy' about this.

Last night we saw Speed Racer and man I loved it. It was a gigantic bundle of highly stylised fun. From the moment the characters first went outside and I saw the way they'd done the sky I knew I was in a fantasy world. It literally was like watching an anime made into a live action film, with all the strange cuts and changing perspectives, etc. Christina Ricci was adorable, actually everyone in it was awesome. Go Captain Hero Jack Matthew Fox!

I was laughing out loud so often during the movie, and also got caught up with all the crazy stuff going on in the backgrounds of shots. Fish shaped building for the win! It was just so much fun. Go to it, turn off your brain and submerge yourself into the prettiness.

Oh, and if you need a pick me up right now? Check out the newest post of the dog-blog which continues to be awesome fun. Also the daily coyote especially the 'cool cat dorky coyote' picture.

PoF: duvet
CO: speed