Caitlín R. Kiernan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greygirlbeast) wrote2006-07-09 11:43 am
greygirlbeast) wrote2006-07-09 11:43 am
That's the way it's been since Protozoa...
There was no journal entry yesterday because there was no writing on Friday, and I was just too damn disgusted with myself to write about not having written. However, yesterday was better, and I did 1,135 words on "The Cryomancer's Daughter," which presently totals 4,084 words. It is my intention to finish the piece today. I'm liking it quite a lot, despite the difficulty its autobiographical elements have posed. It's supposed to be hard. Sometimes I forget that. It's supposed to hurt, one way or another. I'd originally imagined "The Cryomancer's Daughter" as a vignette, but its turned into an actual short story, and I'm glad of that. I suspect that I may go back to it, in time, and it may become a novelette or something, something longer. There's a lot of potential here. Anyway, if you want to read it, just go to the Sirenia Digest website, read the FAQ, and sign up for a subscription (which is to say, "please," as well as "now's a really good time").
I've determined that my next sf novella for Subterranean Press will likely be titled "The Dinosaurs of Mars," though, in truth, I've yet to find the story that goes with the title. That happens to me sometimes. I find the perfect title, then have to find its story. It happened with "Angels You Can See Through," for instance. The title came to me in 1993, but I didn't write the story until 1999. "Spindleshanks (New Orleans, 1956)" began as a title, as did "So Runs the World Away," "...Between the Gargoyle Trees," "Breakfast in the House of the Rising Sun," and "Rats Live on No Evil Star," along with a number of others.
Note to Sirenia Digest subscribers. The digest will now be released on or about the 21st of each month, instead of the 14th. For whatever reason, it's been coming out nearer the 21st almost every month, so I figured I might as well make it official. Also, Vince is on vacation until July 17th and won't be able to do this month's illustration until he gets back, so I figured this was a good time to make the scheduling change.
A belated happy 30th birthday to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scarletboi, whom I first met when he was merely a tadpole of twenty (I think). It's been a long damn time, regardless.
Tim Pratt has written a really wonderful review of Alabaster for the June '06 issue of Locus. So far, Alabaster is three for three.
We were pleased to learn that Pets Are People, Too has made a donation to the Atlanta Humane Society (a no-kill shelter) in Sophie's name. We found out day before yesterday. Then, last night, while taking our evening walk, we met a sociable brown tabby and I petted him. And realized it's the first time I've touched a cat in almost a month, the first cat I've touched since the last time I held Sophie.
Last night we watched Howl's Moving Castle, which came in from Netflix two or three weeks ago and has been sitting neglected on the coffee table all this time, waiting for me to be in the mood to see it. I found it delightful, and the film almost made me cry, even if the ending might have made just a little more sense. Night before last, we watched Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, which I enjoyed immensely, even though I've not played FF VII and had precious little idea who anyone was or why they were doing the things they did. The animation made up for my confusion. I'm like that, an eye slut. I am not ashamed. Oh, and Thursday night we watched Renny Harlin's so-so The Long Kiss Goodnight. It might have been a very good film with a better director and a better script. Samuel Jackson makes up for most of the rough spots, and the film includes one of the best explosions ever filmed. Oh, but we've been reading, too, so all this eye sluttery isn't as bad as one might think.
Okay. Gotta go write. New eBay auctions later today. I'll close with a couple of photos from the twilight, day before yesterday (behind the cut):
Like the Spongmonkeys, we like the moon. 'Cause it is in the sky...and if you squint, you can actually make out some small-scale lunar geography in this shot, including Copernicus and Kepler, along with the Mare Traquillitatis, etc.
Hubcap recently embedded deeply in a telephone pole. I thought about just calling this one "Atlanta Drivers" and being done with it.
I've determined that my next sf novella for Subterranean Press will likely be titled "The Dinosaurs of Mars," though, in truth, I've yet to find the story that goes with the title. That happens to me sometimes. I find the perfect title, then have to find its story. It happened with "Angels You Can See Through," for instance. The title came to me in 1993, but I didn't write the story until 1999. "Spindleshanks (New Orleans, 1956)" began as a title, as did "So Runs the World Away," "...Between the Gargoyle Trees," "Breakfast in the House of the Rising Sun," and "Rats Live on No Evil Star," along with a number of others.
Note to Sirenia Digest subscribers. The digest will now be released on or about the 21st of each month, instead of the 14th. For whatever reason, it's been coming out nearer the 21st almost every month, so I figured I might as well make it official. Also, Vince is on vacation until July 17th and won't be able to do this month's illustration until he gets back, so I figured this was a good time to make the scheduling change.
A belated happy 30th birthday to
scarletboi, whom I first met when he was merely a tadpole of twenty (I think). It's been a long damn time, regardless.Tim Pratt has written a really wonderful review of Alabaster for the June '06 issue of Locus. So far, Alabaster is three for three.
We were pleased to learn that Pets Are People, Too has made a donation to the Atlanta Humane Society (a no-kill shelter) in Sophie's name. We found out day before yesterday. Then, last night, while taking our evening walk, we met a sociable brown tabby and I petted him. And realized it's the first time I've touched a cat in almost a month, the first cat I've touched since the last time I held Sophie.
Last night we watched Howl's Moving Castle, which came in from Netflix two or three weeks ago and has been sitting neglected on the coffee table all this time, waiting for me to be in the mood to see it. I found it delightful, and the film almost made me cry, even if the ending might have made just a little more sense. Night before last, we watched Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, which I enjoyed immensely, even though I've not played FF VII and had precious little idea who anyone was or why they were doing the things they did. The animation made up for my confusion. I'm like that, an eye slut. I am not ashamed. Oh, and Thursday night we watched Renny Harlin's so-so The Long Kiss Goodnight. It might have been a very good film with a better director and a better script. Samuel Jackson makes up for most of the rough spots, and the film includes one of the best explosions ever filmed. Oh, but we've been reading, too, so all this eye sluttery isn't as bad as one might think.
Okay. Gotta go write. New eBay auctions later today. I'll close with a couple of photos from the twilight, day before yesterday (behind the cut):
Like the Spongmonkeys, we like the moon. 'Cause it is in the sky...and if you squint, you can actually make out some small-scale lunar geography in this shot, including Copernicus and Kepler, along with the Mare Traquillitatis, etc.
Hubcap recently embedded deeply in a telephone pole. I thought about just calling this one "Atlanta Drivers" and being done with it.
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I think it was '98 or '99. So not quite 10 years, but damned long, nontheless.
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I'm thinking '98, maybe? Did we first meet the year you dressed as Echo?
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I want a cool eyepatch like Angelina Jolie's in Sky Captain. Ok... I want Angelina Jolie in Sky Captain, too, but I'll settle for the eyepatch.
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Did you watch it in English or Japanese? You might have seen my conversation with sovay about anime translations (http://sovay.livejournal.com/101929.html?thread=1111337#t1111337), or one of my blog posts, or I may have just started screaming at you and passers-by about it at random before passing out in a stupor while mumbling something about Colonel Sanders. But since I've only seen Howl's Moving Castle in theatre, I've only seen the English version, which I thought was decent. I especially liked Jean Simmons performance, and I sort of wish she'd played both young and old Sofie.
the ending might have made just a little more sense.
I kind of liked the ending, but I dig it when really random things happen.
Night before last, we watched Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, which I enjoyed immensely, even though I've not played FF VII and had precious little idea who anyone was or why they were doing the things they did.
It doesn't actually make much sense even if you have played FF VII. I mean, you know who all the people are who suddenly show up during the final battle, but otherwise, I think you can infer that Cloud and Tifa like each other, and Cloud and Sephiroth hate each other. But you'd be surprised how many of the characters' actions and inactions are absolutely inexplicable. Still, yeah, it looked terrific.
There were rumours a little while ago that Square Enix were going to do a revamp of FF VII with Advent Children quality graphics--rumours probably fuelled by this PS3 demonstration (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-R3mHZ_6d0) which is the FF VII opening animation redone with Advent Children cgi.
Personally, I'd like to see a real update for Final Fantasy VI, which, in my opinion, still has the best story. There was a PS1 release of FF VI with two brief FF VIII quality animations; you can see them here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVisE1KC4pc) and here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAkPz7v4LC8). It has some of the best Yoshitaka Amano designs, in my opinion.
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We watched it in English, because after writing all day I wasn't up to the subtitles. Usually, though, I watch anime in Japanese with subtitles. And yeah, I'd seen your conversation with Sonya. I agree that Jean Simmons was very good. I also enjoyed Billy Crystal.
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I did too! I was kind of surprised at myself. Crystal more reined in than usual--his voice fit the character, and the character fit in the world. I liked it much better than his bit in The Princess Bride, actually.
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I'd love to see a good remake of it, but I really don't want them to use the FF XII fight system, which looks to be adapted from the online game, and is therefore way too unnecessarily complex.
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Mine too. I always enjoy replaying it. And, it's funny, but those old Super Nintendo graphics actually can be sort of effective. I still love the opening credits where Tera, Biggs, and Wedge are trudging through the snow towards the mining town. I guess Nobuo Uematsu's score is a big part of it.
And Kefka is my favorite FF villain, though Kuja from FF IX is... um... worth watching.
Hehe. I still like Edea from Final Fantasy VIII, even though she sort of turned out to be only a maybe villain in that off-the-rails plot. I like Kefka and Kuja, though--I also prefer Kefka of the two. He was more threatening, somehow.
which looks to be adapted from the online game, and is therefore way too unnecessarily complex.
It does look like it borrows from FF XI, which does seem unnecessary. I haven't played FF XI, though, so at least I'm not irritated by it yet.
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