chocolate and kelpies and...slugs
Jan. 29th, 2006 12:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greygirlbeastI'm running an hour or so behind, because I let myself get distracted and obsessed with putting Leonard Cohen songs on my iPod. And there's much to be done today. And tomorrow. And the day after. And yesterday, for that matter. Yesterday I pimped the platypus until the wheels just about fell off. But, Spooky and I made it all the way through the ms. for Alabaster, and I e-mailed it off to subpress about seven-thirty p.m. I'd have sent it earlier, but I was trying to find a closing epigraph for the book, which I never did find. I may add it later. Also, I forgot to include "On the Road to Jefferson" as the afterword, so I need to add it to the file and resend. But yeah, I finally made myself step away from all the stories and say, They're finished. Leave them alone. It's good to have it out of here so I can move along the Thing Number Next. Ted will be turning in his artwork in a couple of weeks. I don't yet have a release date for Alabaster, but I'll post it ASAP.
I forgot to mention in yesterday's entry that my agent has managed to get me an extension on the already extended delivery date for Daughter of Hounds. I now have until March 1st to have it back in New York. Which means I should be able to do it without hurting either the book or myself. We'll be beginning work on the prologue today, about three weeks behind schedule. Sure, the schedule's of my own devising, but that doesn't make the consequences of straying from it any less severe. This is, by the way, the first time I've ever asked for an extension, much less two extensions, on the delivery date of a novel ms. Thank you, Bullet Girl. Thank you, She Who Will Not Be Named.
I'm giving Firefox another go, thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
davidmlemoine, who pointed me towards a substantially less buggy Beta version. So far, I've only had it seize up once on a form.
I haven't yet had time to identify the trilobite on the cover of La Soglia, but I can see enough of the left free cheek and facial suture, the pleural spines and glabella, that I ought to at least be able to pin it down to one family or another.
The results for the Frog Toes and Tentacles poll have been interesting. I'm very pleased that "'Ode' to Katan Amano" received so many votes, as it's my favourite in the book. Of course, that doesn't mean it's necessarily the best for drawing new readers to Sirenia Digest. Anyway, I thought I'd give it one more day for people who haven't yet voted but would like to do so. Just click here. Thanks.
Last night Spooky and I watched the remake of John Carpenter's The Fog. I've never been a huge fan of the original (1979) and have always been a little perplexed at the way it's revered by many horror fans. However, the original is far and away better than the remake. Why has it become necessary to cast horror films with these perfectly symmetrical, twenty-something mannequins who look like they just walked off the set of some WB series? They're not even pretty. They're just...symmetrical. Give me people who look like people, please, not like pop stars. At any rate, the remake of The Fog fails in almost every way it could. It somehow manages to be bloated with exposition and yet end up making only very little sense. There's way too much so-so CGI and so-so SFX makeup, which renders both the namesake fog and the ghosts from the Elizabeth Dane about as spooky as a Disney theme-park attraction. There are a few subtle, creepy moments, but I suspect they were accidents, since the film seems entirely unaware of their impact as it rushes from one silly slasher-film cliché to the next. Blargh, I say. Afterwards, I read Spooky Angela Carter's "The Erl-King" (The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories) to get the taste of The Fog out of my head. It worked quite well. Carter will always humble me. Right now, it's good to be humbled by another writer's work, as it reminds me how much harder I need to be working. After "The Erl-King," Spooky read me more of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix until I was too sleepy to hear anymore.
And here are photos of Monster Doodle Sculpture #6 (behind the cut). Once again, I drew upon my encyclopedic knowledge of the wildlife of Nebari Prime and sculpted the larval stage of the Roughbacked Puddle Shelt. They inhabit meltwater pools at the northern rim of the great equatorial ice forests (though the adults are arboreal). Note the single gill slit on each side of the throat.
Okay. I gotta go wake up the platypus. After yesterday, I let the poor thing sleep in...
I forgot to mention in yesterday's entry that my agent has managed to get me an extension on the already extended delivery date for Daughter of Hounds. I now have until March 1st to have it back in New York. Which means I should be able to do it without hurting either the book or myself. We'll be beginning work on the prologue today, about three weeks behind schedule. Sure, the schedule's of my own devising, but that doesn't make the consequences of straying from it any less severe. This is, by the way, the first time I've ever asked for an extension, much less two extensions, on the delivery date of a novel ms. Thank you, Bullet Girl. Thank you, She Who Will Not Be Named.
I'm giving Firefox another go, thanks to
davidmlemoine, who pointed me towards a substantially less buggy Beta version. So far, I've only had it seize up once on a form.I haven't yet had time to identify the trilobite on the cover of La Soglia, but I can see enough of the left free cheek and facial suture, the pleural spines and glabella, that I ought to at least be able to pin it down to one family or another.
The results for the Frog Toes and Tentacles poll have been interesting. I'm very pleased that "'Ode' to Katan Amano" received so many votes, as it's my favourite in the book. Of course, that doesn't mean it's necessarily the best for drawing new readers to Sirenia Digest. Anyway, I thought I'd give it one more day for people who haven't yet voted but would like to do so. Just click here. Thanks.
Last night Spooky and I watched the remake of John Carpenter's The Fog. I've never been a huge fan of the original (1979) and have always been a little perplexed at the way it's revered by many horror fans. However, the original is far and away better than the remake. Why has it become necessary to cast horror films with these perfectly symmetrical, twenty-something mannequins who look like they just walked off the set of some WB series? They're not even pretty. They're just...symmetrical. Give me people who look like people, please, not like pop stars. At any rate, the remake of The Fog fails in almost every way it could. It somehow manages to be bloated with exposition and yet end up making only very little sense. There's way too much so-so CGI and so-so SFX makeup, which renders both the namesake fog and the ghosts from the Elizabeth Dane about as spooky as a Disney theme-park attraction. There are a few subtle, creepy moments, but I suspect they were accidents, since the film seems entirely unaware of their impact as it rushes from one silly slasher-film cliché to the next. Blargh, I say. Afterwards, I read Spooky Angela Carter's "The Erl-King" (The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories) to get the taste of The Fog out of my head. It worked quite well. Carter will always humble me. Right now, it's good to be humbled by another writer's work, as it reminds me how much harder I need to be working. After "The Erl-King," Spooky read me more of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix until I was too sleepy to hear anymore.
And here are photos of Monster Doodle Sculpture #6 (behind the cut). Once again, I drew upon my encyclopedic knowledge of the wildlife of Nebari Prime and sculpted the larval stage of the Roughbacked Puddle Shelt. They inhabit meltwater pools at the northern rim of the great equatorial ice forests (though the adults are arboreal). Note the single gill slit on each side of the throat.
Okay. I gotta go wake up the platypus. After yesterday, I let the poor thing sleep in...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-01-29 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-29 05:32 pm (UTC)There needs to be more than one of me for a whole lot of reasons. Why can't someone hurry up with the co-conscious clones, already? But yeah, I'd love to find someone with an especial flair for wildlife artwork who'd like to help me add a bestiary page to Nebari.net.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-29 05:56 pm (UTC)They inhabit meltwater pools at the northern rim of the great equatorial ice forests (though the adults are arboreal).
That's lovely. I wish I could take it home, but I don't think there would be enough trees (or ice) in New Haven to make it happy once it grows up.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-29 07:10 pm (UTC)I fear the summers would likely be too warm, as well.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-29 08:41 pm (UTC)The irony of that question is that the male lead, Tom Welling, plays Clark Kent on Smallville, which is on The WB. Though I must say, he is a far sight prettier than Tom Atkins.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-29 09:28 pm (UTC)Hah. I've never seen an ep of Smallville, but there you go.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-29 10:24 pm (UTC)But their programming isn't going to get any better... They're just picking the "best" shows (read "highest rated") from each network and going from there.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-29 11:04 pm (UTC)Yep. I heard. UPN + WB = CW (more of the same).
no subject
Date: 2006-01-29 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-29 11:05 pm (UTC)Very good. Congratulations. I know he's going to a good home!
no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 04:54 am (UTC)It seems to be working well for me too. I'm just glad I found the damned download. That teaches me to upgrade software without searching out what other people have to say about it first.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 03:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 03:52 pm (UTC)Version 1.4, I think.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 03:58 pm (UTC)You can check by going to the Help section on the Toolbar and selecting About mozilla Firefox...
no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 05:44 pm (UTC)Yep. The release notes list it as Firefox 1.4.1.
Huh.
Date: 2006-01-30 05:50 pm (UTC)http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/qa/archives/2006/01/firefox_rc1_candidate_availabl.html
no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 05:51 pm (UTC)a thought on the poll
Date: 2006-01-30 04:32 pm (UTC)though not my favorite vignette in FT&T, i voted for "ode to katan amano" on the basis of "what will draw new readers." (favorite piece would have gone to either "untitled 7" or "untitled 12," in case you were curious.)
the real question seems to be, what aspects of these vignettes are you wanting people to be drawn to?
the erotica? the otherwordly-ness?
even though it's from "sirenia 1," my true vote would go to "untitled 13." for reasons i'm not awake enough to express right now. :)
Re: a thought on the poll
Date: 2006-01-30 05:45 pm (UTC)the erotica? the otherwordly-ness?
Well, not a strictly business, non-artistic standpoint, whatever attracts those 80 extra subscribers is what I'm looking for.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 04:41 pm (UTC)I went back a few weeks ago & watched the original in order to make fair comparison to the remake. I think the reason it's been revered is not so much for the slasher-horror moments (which are really its weakest element), but the genuine ghost-story moments. Your comments pretty much confirm my suspicions that they were going to F-up the remake. Still, I least I can save the $3.99 I was going to spend to rent it.
Question: Other than The Thing, was there a John Carpenter movie you do like?
Why has it become necessary to cast horror films with these perfectly symmetrical, twenty-something mannequins who look like they just walked off the set of some WB series?
Well, I'll admit that I didn't mind the character of Nick Castle was cast as being considerably younger (Jamie Lee Curtis & Tom Atkins always confuzzled me a bit), but the endless files of these disposable mannequins is a little rankling.
And here are photos of Monster Doodle Sculpture #6
Kinda cute. I was trying to figure out where its eyes were, but then figured that if I couldn't tell then both natural camoflage and your sculpting/painting skills were executing things pretty well.
Speaking of cryptozoology, here's a question I got this weekend: "If you were going to resurrect the population of a single extinct species, which would it be?"
BTB, I plugged Sirenia last week in me journal, with specific reference to the WAM Kelpies...although referring to them as such is probably redundant.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 05:42 pm (UTC)I have to admit, The Thing is the only film he's done that I love. Escape from New York is campy fun, and even though it really went a little too far over the top for my tastes, Escape from LA was also kind of fun. Vampires has it's moments, but doesn't seem to hold together in the final analysis. That's about it for me and Mr. Carpenter.
Speaking of cryptozoology, here's a question I got this weekend: "If you were going to resurrect the population of a single extinct species, which would it be?"
Oh, gods. You go straight to the hard stuff, don't you? Selfishly, I would probably choose a species of mosasaur, because I love them so, but any species is as worthy of ressurection as any other.
BTB, I plugged Sirenia last week in me journal, with specific reference to the WAM Kelpies...although referring to them as such is probably redundant.
Thanks. I hadn't really thought of a Kelpie story from the WAM angle, but yeah, there it is. The chocolate story, too.