I caved to peer pressure last night and finally watched the first
episode of Mad Men. A lot of people I know have been watching from the
start, with more coming in during recent seasons, so I'm aware of
certain plot points and character arcs going in. I just had no idea what
to expect from the show itself.
It's definitely a slow burn. I
can't say for sure which way I'm going to swing on it yet. I always try
to give shows 3-4 episodes (unless they're The Fall when there are only
five and it's obvious after two I'm not going to enjoy it), so I guess
we'll see. Part of me is hoping it does click. There's five seasons for
me to watch on Netflix, with another that will probably show up before
I'm done (if I get that far).
It's weird seeing Vincent Kartheiser, though. He still creeps me out, even though I know there are those out there who love him.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
Project Runway made me cry
Spoilers ahead for last night's Project Runway...
I cried. I admit it. Justin is an absolutely sweet guy, and he was so obviously upset about the whole thing that I couldn't help but get wrapped up in it with him. Especially since I didn't think he should've been last man standing. Karen should've got the boot because hers was both boring and ill-fitting. At least Justin tried, which shows genuine effort.
I know people are calling manipulation on Tim's save, and it probably is, but I genuinely don't care (though if Jeremy, Bradon, or Dom end up going home before the finale because Tim wasted his save on Justin, ask me that again, lol). I think the workroom needs Justin calming presence to help counter some of the drama, which makes it as valid reason as any. He's never going to be a real contender, but that doesn't mean he doesn't add value to the show with his presence.
As for the actual designs, my least and most faves were...
I hated Alexandria's from start to finish. Hated it. I wanted her in the bottom so bad, and I have no idea how it won. I actually disliked it more than I disliked Justin's and Karen's. Anyone with thighs will tell you dropped crotches suck, and the jacket didn't look like it fit right.
I was in love with Jeremy's calligraphy bias dress. I'm a sucker for script in any format as decoration, and this was just stunning. Even when he's just been safe this season, he's consistently pulling out some of my favorite looks. I'm most definitely his customer, lol.
I cried. I admit it. Justin is an absolutely sweet guy, and he was so obviously upset about the whole thing that I couldn't help but get wrapped up in it with him. Especially since I didn't think he should've been last man standing. Karen should've got the boot because hers was both boring and ill-fitting. At least Justin tried, which shows genuine effort.
I know people are calling manipulation on Tim's save, and it probably is, but I genuinely don't care (though if Jeremy, Bradon, or Dom end up going home before the finale because Tim wasted his save on Justin, ask me that again, lol). I think the workroom needs Justin calming presence to help counter some of the drama, which makes it as valid reason as any. He's never going to be a real contender, but that doesn't mean he doesn't add value to the show with his presence.
As for the actual designs, my least and most faves were...
I hated Alexandria's from start to finish. Hated it. I wanted her in the bottom so bad, and I have no idea how it won. I actually disliked it more than I disliked Justin's and Karen's. Anyone with thighs will tell you dropped crotches suck, and the jacket didn't look like it fit right.
I was in love with Jeremy's calligraphy bias dress. I'm a sucker for script in any format as decoration, and this was just stunning. Even when he's just been safe this season, he's consistently pulling out some of my favorite looks. I'm most definitely his customer, lol.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
The opening of my latest WIP
I've been working at this untitled short story all week, and I thought I'd share the opening today. It's an m/m erotic contemporary for a train-themed collection, and I'm shocked at how quickly it's going, considering how little actual writing time I've been able to commit to it.
And I really need to figure out what to call it.
I don't sleep.
Okay, that's obviously a lie. Everybody sleeps, or else we'd be a planet full of psychopaths. I can already hear Dr.Willoughby scolding me. "Stop exaggerating, Sean. You're not doing yourself any favors."
She was a bitch, but she was right most of the time so I guess I should probably listen to her when she decides to poke her nose into my psyche these days.
I don't sleep much.
That's more accurate.
I go two, maybe three hours tops. That's my last parting gift from Dr. Willoughby and the staff at Bronx Lebanon. It's not their fault. Fuck, they were great, everything considered. It's just that after spending so many weeks sedated and stuck in bed when that hospital was the last place I wanted to be, I think my body has revolted. It's like it thinks that if I go to sleep again, really asleep, I'll end up back there, and that's the last thing I want. I've worked too hard to move past it all.
So after work, I get on the train and I just ride until my head feels like a cannonball and my brain is tripping over itself trying to remember where my stop is. That usually happens around four, five in the morning. I don't leave Manhattan. I'm not that fucking nuts. Plus, it helps that I look the way I do. People don't mess with a guy who's six-two and packing a hard two-twenty. They take one look at the shaved head and tatts and assume the worst.
If Dr. Willoughby saw me now, she'd probably have a field day telling me how I'm trying to live down to people's expectations, but that's not it. It's about putting on armor. It makes me feel stronger if I think people see me that way. Trust me, I need that boost. When you get broken bad enough, and then fix yourself up again, you never want to end up in that place again.
The thing about the train is how easy it makes it for me to shut off. It's quiet. Sometimes, there'll be pockets of people coming from a late night party or show, but I've gotten better about avoiding the parts of the city where that could happen. I like that I can sit there, and the rhythms of the train, the rocking, the hum, the hollow roars, all of it works to erase the effects of my day. Nothing to distract me. Nothing to do. Just be.
That's why I wasn't prepared the first time it happened.
And I really need to figure out what to call it.
*_*_*
I don't sleep.
Okay, that's obviously a lie. Everybody sleeps, or else we'd be a planet full of psychopaths. I can already hear Dr.Willoughby scolding me. "Stop exaggerating, Sean. You're not doing yourself any favors."
She was a bitch, but she was right most of the time so I guess I should probably listen to her when she decides to poke her nose into my psyche these days.
I don't sleep much.
That's more accurate.
I go two, maybe three hours tops. That's my last parting gift from Dr. Willoughby and the staff at Bronx Lebanon. It's not their fault. Fuck, they were great, everything considered. It's just that after spending so many weeks sedated and stuck in bed when that hospital was the last place I wanted to be, I think my body has revolted. It's like it thinks that if I go to sleep again, really asleep, I'll end up back there, and that's the last thing I want. I've worked too hard to move past it all.
So after work, I get on the train and I just ride until my head feels like a cannonball and my brain is tripping over itself trying to remember where my stop is. That usually happens around four, five in the morning. I don't leave Manhattan. I'm not that fucking nuts. Plus, it helps that I look the way I do. People don't mess with a guy who's six-two and packing a hard two-twenty. They take one look at the shaved head and tatts and assume the worst.
If Dr. Willoughby saw me now, she'd probably have a field day telling me how I'm trying to live down to people's expectations, but that's not it. It's about putting on armor. It makes me feel stronger if I think people see me that way. Trust me, I need that boost. When you get broken bad enough, and then fix yourself up again, you never want to end up in that place again.
The thing about the train is how easy it makes it for me to shut off. It's quiet. Sometimes, there'll be pockets of people coming from a late night party or show, but I've gotten better about avoiding the parts of the city where that could happen. I like that I can sit there, and the rhythms of the train, the rocking, the hum, the hollow roars, all of it works to erase the effects of my day. Nothing to distract me. Nothing to do. Just be.
That's why I wasn't prepared the first time it happened.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Chance to win entire AQP pax collection
This week over at the Amber Pax Collections blog, authors are talking about their stories in the most recent m/m pax release, Dream Man. I don't have a story in this collection, but the theme is fun, isn't it?
PLUS, if you leave a comment on any of the posts this week, you get a chance to win all five stories. Comment on all of them, and that's more chances to win. Go check 'em out!
PLUS, if you leave a comment on any of the posts this week, you get a chance to win all five stories. Comment on all of them, and that's more chances to win. Go check 'em out!
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Movie night
More movies last night! Mondays and Tuesday evenings are long and quiet for me, and since I don't write well after dinnertime, I often spend those nights catching up on TV, watching new shows, or watching movies. Last night was movies.
First off was the 1984 film "Another Country."
It's one of those I've always meant to watch and just never did, about young British school boys in the 30s and the atmosphere of conformity and oppression that pervades. Rupert Everett plays a gay boy in love with Cary Elwes, and Colin Firth was a vocal communist amongst a group of young men struggling with the roles they're locked into.
They're all so young in it! Cary has that babyface prettiness he managed to hone a tad for Princess Bride. Colin was the most eerie one to watch, though. He's so very young, and yet, the voice that comes out of that young face still manages to sound like an over-educated fifty-year-old man. It was very disconcerting, lol. A good movie, though. A lot to say about the nature of what drives a man to make the choices he does, with some beautiful cinematography and compelling performances to boot.
Then Netflix decided to suggest "Seeking Justice" to me, a 2010 Nicolas Cage thriller.
I wasn't going to say yes. Cage has too strong a propensity to do awful little movies lately. But then I saw that Guy Pearce played the bad guy and the reviews online didn't completely suck so I decided to give it a go.
Cage is a high school English teacher in New Orleans, who, when his wife (January Jones) gets raped, is approached by Pearce, the leader of a vigilante group that metes out their own justice. All they ask in return is that somewhere down the line the favor is repaid. Cage agrees because he's out of his head with anger and worry about his wife, and the rapist is killed. Six months later, he gets called upon to kill someone himself. His conscience sets off a whole string of events which are over the top, yes, but managed to be twisty enough to keep me distracted from how quiet my house gets.
It's not great filmmaking by any stretch of the imagination, and the performances feel phoned-in much of the time. The script gets plain silly at times as well. But I didn't finish it feeling like I'd just completely wasted two hours of my life, and I got genuinely surprised by a twist or two, in spite of its lack of subtlety otherwise.
First off was the 1984 film "Another Country."
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It's one of those I've always meant to watch and just never did, about young British school boys in the 30s and the atmosphere of conformity and oppression that pervades. Rupert Everett plays a gay boy in love with Cary Elwes, and Colin Firth was a vocal communist amongst a group of young men struggling with the roles they're locked into.
They're all so young in it! Cary has that babyface prettiness he managed to hone a tad for Princess Bride. Colin was the most eerie one to watch, though. He's so very young, and yet, the voice that comes out of that young face still manages to sound like an over-educated fifty-year-old man. It was very disconcerting, lol. A good movie, though. A lot to say about the nature of what drives a man to make the choices he does, with some beautiful cinematography and compelling performances to boot.
Then Netflix decided to suggest "Seeking Justice" to me, a 2010 Nicolas Cage thriller.
I wasn't going to say yes. Cage has too strong a propensity to do awful little movies lately. But then I saw that Guy Pearce played the bad guy and the reviews online didn't completely suck so I decided to give it a go.
Cage is a high school English teacher in New Orleans, who, when his wife (January Jones) gets raped, is approached by Pearce, the leader of a vigilante group that metes out their own justice. All they ask in return is that somewhere down the line the favor is repaid. Cage agrees because he's out of his head with anger and worry about his wife, and the rapist is killed. Six months later, he gets called upon to kill someone himself. His conscience sets off a whole string of events which are over the top, yes, but managed to be twisty enough to keep me distracted from how quiet my house gets.
It's not great filmmaking by any stretch of the imagination, and the performances feel phoned-in much of the time. The script gets plain silly at times as well. But I didn't finish it feeling like I'd just completely wasted two hours of my life, and I got genuinely surprised by a twist or two, in spite of its lack of subtlety otherwise.
Monday, August 19, 2013
A return to favorites
I've had company this weekend, and one of the things we always end up doing is rewatching favorite movies. We tend to have very similar tastes most of the time, so it's a trip to sit and giggle or sigh over our favorite parts without being self-conscious about it.
Our choices ended up being The Avengers and Crazy Stupid Love.
The Avengers happened because it wasn't just us, it was us and my husband and my kids, so something everybody was going to enjoy. I'm not a comics girl, but I am a Joss Whedon fan and the movie has always been a pleasure for me, even if it's supposedly just another superhero film. The characters aren't black and white, it never forgets the humor, and the performances are fun. A win, all around.
Then came Crazy Stupid Love. I saw it when I came out in the theater with my friend who visited this weekend, and she hasn't seen it since, so the choice was easy. I cannot even begin to describe how much I love this movie. The performances by Carell and Gosling are subtle and so nuanced, they manage to anchor the film in reality without losing the charm or humor in the script. Each relationship has something true to say about love, whether it works or not. And that moment where Kevin Bacon shows up at the house and Ryan Gosling hears who he is? Still one of my absolute favorites ever. Because look at it. Regardless of the fact that Cal has just told him off and said some really nasty things about him, Jacob leaps to attack for him because of their friendship anyway. It's that, "Okay, I'm going to watch your back no matter what" attitude that makes him such a wonderful character for me.
Our choices ended up being The Avengers and Crazy Stupid Love.
The Avengers happened because it wasn't just us, it was us and my husband and my kids, so something everybody was going to enjoy. I'm not a comics girl, but I am a Joss Whedon fan and the movie has always been a pleasure for me, even if it's supposedly just another superhero film. The characters aren't black and white, it never forgets the humor, and the performances are fun. A win, all around.
Then came Crazy Stupid Love. I saw it when I came out in the theater with my friend who visited this weekend, and she hasn't seen it since, so the choice was easy. I cannot even begin to describe how much I love this movie. The performances by Carell and Gosling are subtle and so nuanced, they manage to anchor the film in reality without losing the charm or humor in the script. Each relationship has something true to say about love, whether it works or not. And that moment where Kevin Bacon shows up at the house and Ryan Gosling hears who he is? Still one of my absolute favorites ever. Because look at it. Regardless of the fact that Cal has just told him off and said some really nasty things about him, Jacob leaps to attack for him because of their friendship anyway. It's that, "Okay, I'm going to watch your back no matter what" attitude that makes him such a wonderful character for me.
Friday, August 16, 2013
TGIF
I finished that vampire motel story yesterday, though now I'm considering changing the title on it. I'm torn, so I'm going to let it stew over the weekend, give it another readthrough and edit next week, and decide then. I think right now I'm too close to it.
Today is a reorganization kind of day. I usually allow myself one of these after I finish a project as it helps me regroup and focus for the next one. I especially don't want to start anything today because I have company coming this weekend and I really don't plan on being on the computer for long. There's nothing worse than losing momentum on a brand new story, so I'll make it easier on myself and just start it on Monday.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Today is a reorganization kind of day. I usually allow myself one of these after I finish a project as it helps me regroup and focus for the next one. I especially don't want to start anything today because I have company coming this weekend and I really don't plan on being on the computer for long. There's nothing worse than losing momentum on a brand new story, so I'll make it easier on myself and just start it on Monday.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
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