Wednesday Pastimes

It is the middle of the week already. This year is ending faster than I thought. Seriously sometimes I wish I was jellyfish. I know with climate change and pollution the oceans are not the best place for sea creatures. The idea of just being in water floating wherever the waves take you is really appealing to me. It is also ironic because I don’t know how to swim. I would have loved to say neither do jellyfish but a quick google search dissuaded me of that whole line.

This useless paragraph was put together because I lost my thoughts on what was supposed to be in this post. Coming up with something interesting to write about is as difficult as reading.

At a loss of what to do for this entry. I will report what I’ve been listening to. I will apologize in advance because I fear some of my words may be redundant. I had completed the Forgotten Empires series by Jeffe Kennedy, the week before Thanksgiving. I enjoyed the whole series; the last book The Promised Queen had a twist I did not expect and one that I did. Overall, I enjoyed the three books and could listen to them again.

The day after Thanksgiving, I started to relisten to the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole but only the Lykae stories. The series includes all kinds of supernatural beings. Some I’ve heard of and others I have not. Some have been tweaked for the benefit of the series. There are seventeen books in print. The series is paranormal romances in the audiobook version – not safe for work or headphones only. The narrator was a man named Robert Petroff and he was very good. The tests are female characters and various male characters. None sounded wrong for the story, even when a scene got intense, the voice or voices were distinct and held up. The stories were not in print order: A Hunger Like No Other -book 2, Pleasure of the Dark Prince-book 9, Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night- book 4 and MacRieve, book 14. In 2022, the 5th lykae based story will be out for readers, Munro. I think it has been on hold for 3 years. I hope it comes out, but I am not putting all my hopes into it. This book has missed a deadline before. It was never clear why there was a delay, at least I never delved too deep into the business side of this issue. It could’ve been the author’s problem or the publishing house. Nothing was ever clear. Fans were just disappointed. So now we wait with crossed fingers. I also hope that whatever the situation was it worked out well for Kresley Cole. Even though I know how difficult it is to produce a book much less a series of near 20 books, I still get belligerent when I’m wearing a fan hat. I had fun for the last two weeks, reacquainting myself with the IAD universe. I might continue with the vampire stories next, because Robert Petroff is that good a voice actor. Or I might listen to something completely different.

As the year comes to a close, some of my plans may be clear. Wednesday is still a day for review posts. I know I have not said much about the books I have listened to. A more in-depth review may show up at a later date. What I have been doing to make that goal plausible is developing a reader journal. I had a stray composition notebook and decided I could make good use out of that book. It is something to look forward to next week.

That is all I have to write about my pastimes. Things that I do when I am not writing. I think I might give myself a reading or listening challenge to complete as much of the books I started but DNF’d. If the reason was neglect and not dislike. I will see how far I can get with this. If any of you remember the list I put up on this blog, suggest a book from that list. Constructive comments are also welcome. I hope this entry finds you all doing well.

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Short Reviews & Sundry 02

This is going to be more sundry than reviews. I still have the writing project for NaNoWriMo on the brain. I have not reached my personal word count for the project and I am still about 2,000 behind the NaNoWriMo official word goal. On Thursday or Friday morning I am going to do my best to catch up. I think I should pause for a moment and look over what I have in my outline for my characters. Romance may seem like an easy genre to write in however, looks are very deceiving. I know that for this event, done is better than perfect. I have come to realize that I am more linear than I would like to be. I can skip a scene every now and then but there is an internal narrative I follow. In Star Crossed II, I feel a little disconnected from my characters. I think if I don’t address it, it can grow to be a bigger problem and I don’t what that.

The distractions for this week have come in the form of Webtoon comics. I have been a member of the service for 3 or 4 years. There have been a number of notable comics, some that have even become hardcover books. I have subscribed to many comics on Webtoon but the two I am going to write about today are – It Was All You, created by I Soon Ki, and OH5HO, an original story by Jake Lee. It is set in future Korea. Clones are possible and a luxury item for the wealthy. We follow a woman who works for the company as an engineer and tester of the products which are the clones. While testing the newest model of clone, her marriage falls apart. She does all that she can with the help of the new model to exact revenge. The title gives me pause. I feel that she is being led to something more nefarious.

The other comic that pulled me away from Star Crossed II was put in the romance category. Perfect Marriage Revenge, original story by Yibambe, webcomic creation by So Young and Jerryball. This story is about a woman given a second chance to fix the things that went wrong in her life starting with her marriage. The main character dies in the first chapter in distress after realizing an ultimate betrayal. She wakes up a year before the incident with the opportunity to make different choices.

Neither of these comics is complete. It Was All You has been out longer than, it has over 30 episodes and Perfect Marriage Revenge has about 6 that are free and 2 or 3 under the coin paywall. One of the good things about Webtoon is that each episode or chapter eventually will be free to read. If you can’t wait coins are available for real money. I reward myself with a chapter when things in Star Crossed II go well.

There isn’t much going on with me besides the dash to write. I hope things continue to go well for you all. Please leave a comment, like and subscribe.

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Short reviews and sundry

A good part of today is that this post was published. It means I am consistent. Something will be posted here, every Wednesday and alternate Mondays.

This is supposed to be a review post. I am going to try to give brief thoughts on a few things I have watched.

I saw the Hulu original series, Only Murders in the Building, starring Selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin. It was a fun cozy mystery, with a clever cliffhanger. It ensured that we audiences would want a second season.

The next series I watched till the end was Titans on HBOMax. I have never done a deep dive on the show, like read articles about what the showrunner, directors, or writers have to say about the show. I will say they take a lot of potential and do things I didn’t expect. The paths they are taking with the characters and their story arcs are interesting. I used to be more upset because I have since changed my mind on the subject. DC corporate gives the okay to everything the Titans creators put in the stream. The actors do what is in the script. Why am I cringing about someone else’s intellectual property, when I have IP and characters of my own?

The books I’ve read are Vows in Name Only and Secrets of a One Night Stand: A pregnant by the billionaire romance both books are by Naima Simone. The books are from Harlequin and part of the Billionaires of Boston Series. Book 3 is titled the Perfect Fake Date, it will be released at the end of December. When I started to have trouble with the romance story that I am writing. I watched some YT videos on writing. I took a few classes on writing romance offered on Skillshare. Then I started to read or listen to contemporary romances. They have helped me put my work in perspective. There are some things in the manuscript I need to clarify and some things will have to be changed in the revisions. Overall it was a good thing that I took time to read these books and listen to others.

Those are some of the things I have been watching or reading. In the future, I will write about some brief thoughts on some anime and K-dramas. I hope the week has been good so far and continued to get better.

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Updates March 21 -26

It is possible that this entry should really be called outlook. I suck at titles. This is something that bugs me from time to time. Eventually it will get better with time. I hope this week opens with us in a positive mindset. Last week was difficult for many people. It was okay for me. I’m praying for those who were not that fortunate.

Over the weekend, I watched the Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+. It is completely different from WandaVision. More like the MCU movies we are used to. I like to think of it as a new comic book. In the same universe with similar themes but told from a different perspective. They introduced new side characters, expanded the lives of the main characters, and put a light on an underlying issue. It is only the first episode, and everyone was just established. The action scenes are lovely to watch, however what will be the story and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier has started off well.

I also watched the highly anticipated Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Better reviewers and pop culture analyst who can explain in depth the meanings and implications of certain scenes and the movie overall. For me I don’t feel like I wasted four hours of my life. I’m glad I watched this film at home. There are things I liked the story felt connected to everything that had happened before and dialogue was believable. I had to watch Justice League 2017 to compare. It had more problems than Henry Cavil’s CGI’d face. However, I liked the lighting and coloring throughout the whole movie except for the big fight at the Nuclear town. I even liked the Steppenwolf design in comparison to Snyder’s Steppenwolf. Snyder’s Steppenwolf was more menacing and had a better goals and motivations. But he also looked more like his boss. Darkseid is gray and so is Steppenwolf.

For the Justice League team, Zack Snyder’s film added more feelings and explained characters’ motivations effectively. Characters who did not have a movie despite what was promised were given a reason to be part of the team. A raison d’etre is the actual term. The first movie was surface and there is nothing wrong with that. The second movie felt in depth and runtime was a factor.

Intense fans will say this is the movie we should’ve had all along. I don’t agree. This is the movie we got because time has allowed it. We are more accepting of it because we have all come to terms with what was done before. Some of us have changed or created new fandoms. Some of us have moved on to more important aspects of life than entertainment. We are all in different mindsets and places. Personally 2013 feels more than a decade ago, than the technical eight years.

As stated in last week’s update, I made a reading list. It has been broken up into three categories, fiction, non-fiction, and comics/graphic novels. Each category has over ten items, the fiction has up to 30. The goal is to complete all in the next 3 months. Select a few to review and feel accomplished. This goal seems odd to me because I have never thought about how I read. I had this problem for a long time. I recognized it and attempted to solve it. But those methods didn’t work. This might also be another method to improve myself by reading. The list will be posted on Wednesday.

It may have been implied before, but I will type it here. I’m stuck on Star Crossed. I don’t know how to unstick myself and I don’t want to skip and come back later to the issue. I want to fix a scene because if I don’t do it here, the problem will come up again, possibly in another scene. I’m scanning my sources for suggestions and anyone reading this is free to comment. I’m giving myself this week to find a method to unstick and then I will move on. I know there will be time to revise, however I feel the problem is fundamental. Success or failure will be revealed next week, I guess.

In conclusion I hope everyone reading this entry is entertained and inspired. This week is full of opportunity and possibility. I hope we all find what we need and be kind with each other.

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Eat to Live or Live to Eat

Review

The History of Food is a short documentary series on Curiosity Stream. Directed and Written by Sarah Burns and Alex Sherratt. Produced by Roller Coaster Road (2018). Narrated by Tony Ricketts.

It is five short information filled episodes about the history of food. Honestly, I didn’t think much of the documentary. During lunch, I watch anything to help me pass time. I thought it would be brief, the presenters would spout some facts and I would move on with my time after eating. I do see some irony in what I did. The good thing is that I did learn. Each episode focused on steps that made nutrition more effective and human development and civilization successful. The importance of fire, grains and salt are few foundational items that feed us and keep us healthy. The dialogue was not judgmental, all diets have their pros and cons.

Things that I found interesting were the investigations of how groups like hunter-gatherers eat. Their diet that is completely different from the modern diet. Chefs who were producing wonderful artistic food. They spoke about the various methods of preserving food. Interviewing chefs, scientists, and historians. They spoke about seed vaults in case of an apocalyptic event. Producing food in the future was the final episode. They travelled all over the world. It was a nice experience and shocking.

I recommend this documentary to everyone. I think it also streams on Amazon. It makes us ask questions about the purpose of what we eat. How we acquire the food we eat? Why it is important to understand food and its history. With this knowledge we are able to make better food choices in the future for ourselves.

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