Vaccuum accident, TV shows.
Apr. 13th, 2007 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lenora_roseUsually, when away from a writing project for a while, it's good to read/revise part of what came before to get you back on the thread.
Sometimes, it means you have to do a frantic instant rewrite because as it's written, the villain is stupid like nobody in that situation would be stupid, and if you fix it the first, easiest way, your main character dies before the *cool* stuff happens. Or, at least if does when you is me. Well, I think I got out of the hole, and it did mean some relatively early action stuff, and it will mean he gets to do more in the next bit than walk some more. (He's no hobbit, but there is a decidedly long stretch of "hobbits walking". But A: I don't have any problems with the Lord of the Rings doing it, I actually found shouting farmers, deadly trees, and barrow wights kind of interesting... and B: I didn't neglect to throw in other weirdness while he's walking.)
The good news in all this is, any time I've realised a character was acting even dumber than their intelligence or common sense should make them (Or, in one case, someone acting too sensible for his age or common sense), the revision has made things more interesting. Still, I'd like some real progress. You know, the kind where the book gets written fresh from where I left off...
_______________________
I have this habit of having my most recent copies of things only on the thumb drive I've been carting to and from University, because, well, if I'm revising stories on multiple computers, that's the way to go. I do dump them back on the main drive about once a week or so, two weeks if laziness or lack of new work intervenes.
Welll, I'm suddenly *very* glad that my last such "dump" was on Wednesday, and that, for ocne, everything I've done since was done on the hard drive.
Not that doing so has, so far, saved me from anything but panic, as the info seems to still be there. Technically, the thumb drive still works, and the data is still there, but it's ceased to be portable. Usually, it's best if the innards of such things aren't exposed to a lot of handling.
I vacuumed it up.
No, really; the USB port on my dinosaur of a computer* is on the back. I ran the vaccuum under the desk without looking, and the lanyard of the thumb drive got sucked up, and tore off half the outside case with it. The cord itself did what all cords do with vaccuums, and promptly snagged on the roller bar, but the rest went rattling loudly all the way in. The data part stayed attached to the system.
I'm just glad I wasn't using the shop-vac...
* Things acquire names around me without my conscious control. My computer's name is Les Barker's fault, not mine. It's the Brontesaurus.
_________________________
Colin saved the third season finale for Battlestar Galactica until i came home from my last day of classes with essay done (he also fed me chinese food. Whee!)
Well, considering how much they had to back out of the season ender for season two, and how badly they did with some of the cylon stuff (any plan they had is well gone by now... their whole behaviour during the occupation pretty much testified to that), the season actually seemed to me to be recovering nicely. There were still storylines I thought were getting absurd, but they managed to make it compelling in spite of that. Part of it is that they do let there be consequences to prior actions - sometimes. But more often than other shows, and I *never* expect perfect continuity from a tv series.
But that's the summary of the season. For the episode: Giving Lee the closing statement would have let him make the same speech without a stupid legal violation. That being said, the points themselves were valid. But I was really really really happy to see Gaius' face when his lawyer and Lee both abandon him to whatever's left for him, and he finally figures out that the trial is barely the start of his problems.
The crazy women trying to make him a messiah, on the other hand, just make me groan, and did since they showed up. I guess they wanted an excuse to keep him as an ongoing character, not torn to pieces by season end. (Incidentally, I also can't see him as a socialist and worker's rights supporter after he took so much advantage of his position as president, but that's another episode, and besides, his little speech was good.)
The identities of the final four cylons (Colin and I discussed the possibility of the first in the episode right after the mid-season break, with the painting that matched the temple symbol, and we became *almost* positive later) were amusing; among other things, that means there are *two* half-cylon babies around. And I did like their reaction to the news; not instant betrayal, but a firming of loyalties.
The rest is relatively spoiler-free; it might confuse you, but it won't explain much of anything.
Colin could attest that the first time someone muttered "There must be some kind of way out of here," I immediately replied, "Said the joker to the thief." I also managed to add up to four successfully before the climax, but I can't prove that as well.
Although it took me a while after that to realise the weird middle-eastern-type music was actually *that* melody. I was all ready to rant about them using a song from Earth in a setting where Earth exists but nobody has been there (this is actually worse for suspension than using one in a setting where Earth never existed at all), but they managed, just barely, to provide a plausible-ish connection. This one's risky, it could fall apart in the next season, but it's better than season two, where I was certain that they'd have to try to write their way out of the pit in the first few episodes.
______________________
So far Season three Doctor Who has the potential to be better than Season two.
For one thing, it was marvelously refreshing in the first episode for Martha to not be either in denial or unaware of the cybermen, the christmas invasion, or other freaky events happening lately. It had a few too many bits that were cool for the sake of cool thrown in, but not as badly as much of the last season, and definitely not like the second Christmas special.
And last week's episode was just good. While the real Shakespeare wasn't a "genius who finds perfect words", there was fun, and wit, and an earnest, if clunky, attempt at iambics, a gre4at deal of usually not-clunky wordplay, real characters. A lot more fun than I was afraid of. (I've said before, anyone who gribes about historical accuracy in Doctor Who...)
I think I'm actually ready for tomorrow's exam. Well, let's be up tomorrow in time to find out. That means, for now, Good night.
Sometimes, it means you have to do a frantic instant rewrite because as it's written, the villain is stupid like nobody in that situation would be stupid, and if you fix it the first, easiest way, your main character dies before the *cool* stuff happens. Or, at least if does when you is me. Well, I think I got out of the hole, and it did mean some relatively early action stuff, and it will mean he gets to do more in the next bit than walk some more. (He's no hobbit, but there is a decidedly long stretch of "hobbits walking". But A: I don't have any problems with the Lord of the Rings doing it, I actually found shouting farmers, deadly trees, and barrow wights kind of interesting... and B: I didn't neglect to throw in other weirdness while he's walking.)
The good news in all this is, any time I've realised a character was acting even dumber than their intelligence or common sense should make them (Or, in one case, someone acting too sensible for his age or common sense), the revision has made things more interesting. Still, I'd like some real progress. You know, the kind where the book gets written fresh from where I left off...
_______________________
I have this habit of having my most recent copies of things only on the thumb drive I've been carting to and from University, because, well, if I'm revising stories on multiple computers, that's the way to go. I do dump them back on the main drive about once a week or so, two weeks if laziness or lack of new work intervenes.
Welll, I'm suddenly *very* glad that my last such "dump" was on Wednesday, and that, for ocne, everything I've done since was done on the hard drive.
Not that doing so has, so far, saved me from anything but panic, as the info seems to still be there. Technically, the thumb drive still works, and the data is still there, but it's ceased to be portable. Usually, it's best if the innards of such things aren't exposed to a lot of handling.
I vacuumed it up.
No, really; the USB port on my dinosaur of a computer* is on the back. I ran the vaccuum under the desk without looking, and the lanyard of the thumb drive got sucked up, and tore off half the outside case with it. The cord itself did what all cords do with vaccuums, and promptly snagged on the roller bar, but the rest went rattling loudly all the way in. The data part stayed attached to the system.
I'm just glad I wasn't using the shop-vac...
* Things acquire names around me without my conscious control. My computer's name is Les Barker's fault, not mine. It's the Brontesaurus.
_________________________
Colin saved the third season finale for Battlestar Galactica until i came home from my last day of classes with essay done (he also fed me chinese food. Whee!)
Well, considering how much they had to back out of the season ender for season two, and how badly they did with some of the cylon stuff (any plan they had is well gone by now... their whole behaviour during the occupation pretty much testified to that), the season actually seemed to me to be recovering nicely. There were still storylines I thought were getting absurd, but they managed to make it compelling in spite of that. Part of it is that they do let there be consequences to prior actions - sometimes. But more often than other shows, and I *never* expect perfect continuity from a tv series.
But that's the summary of the season. For the episode: Giving Lee the closing statement would have let him make the same speech without a stupid legal violation. That being said, the points themselves were valid. But I was really really really happy to see Gaius' face when his lawyer and Lee both abandon him to whatever's left for him, and he finally figures out that the trial is barely the start of his problems.
The crazy women trying to make him a messiah, on the other hand, just make me groan, and did since they showed up. I guess they wanted an excuse to keep him as an ongoing character, not torn to pieces by season end. (Incidentally, I also can't see him as a socialist and worker's rights supporter after he took so much advantage of his position as president, but that's another episode, and besides, his little speech was good.)
The identities of the final four cylons (Colin and I discussed the possibility of the first in the episode right after the mid-season break, with the painting that matched the temple symbol, and we became *almost* positive later) were amusing; among other things, that means there are *two* half-cylon babies around. And I did like their reaction to the news; not instant betrayal, but a firming of loyalties.
The rest is relatively spoiler-free; it might confuse you, but it won't explain much of anything.
Colin could attest that the first time someone muttered "There must be some kind of way out of here," I immediately replied, "Said the joker to the thief." I also managed to add up to four successfully before the climax, but I can't prove that as well.
Although it took me a while after that to realise the weird middle-eastern-type music was actually *that* melody. I was all ready to rant about them using a song from Earth in a setting where Earth exists but nobody has been there (this is actually worse for suspension than using one in a setting where Earth never existed at all), but they managed, just barely, to provide a plausible-ish connection. This one's risky, it could fall apart in the next season, but it's better than season two, where I was certain that they'd have to try to write their way out of the pit in the first few episodes.
______________________
So far Season three Doctor Who has the potential to be better than Season two.
For one thing, it was marvelously refreshing in the first episode for Martha to not be either in denial or unaware of the cybermen, the christmas invasion, or other freaky events happening lately. It had a few too many bits that were cool for the sake of cool thrown in, but not as badly as much of the last season, and definitely not like the second Christmas special.
And last week's episode was just good. While the real Shakespeare wasn't a "genius who finds perfect words", there was fun, and wit, and an earnest, if clunky, attempt at iambics, a gre4at deal of usually not-clunky wordplay, real characters. A lot more fun than I was afraid of. (I've said before, anyone who gribes about historical accuracy in Doctor Who...)
I think I'm actually ready for tomorrow's exam. Well, let's be up tomorrow in time to find out. That means, for now, Good night.
