I am unrested

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The only vacation I had this year was my trip to L.A. and San Diego. The L.A. part of the trip was nice, because I got to see friends, but my time in SD was spent at the Comic-Con, which was crowded and uncomfortable.

And that’s all the vacation I’m getting this year.

Someday I think I’d like to visit an Italian villa by the Mediterranean–a little beautiful estate to walk on, cool breezes, unusual foods (for me, at least) and a lot of quiet time to read and play.

What would be your perfect vacation?

“Maybe you were abused in childhood…”

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Mr. Smooth Talker leaves a pair of voice mails for a woman he’s interested in and comes off sounding like a complete ass.

You can listen to both voice mails at the link above. Together they’re only four and a half minutes long.

A New Hope (rebooted)

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I wrote this a while back for another place but forgot to repost it here. Well, here goes.

Rebooting movie franchises is the new black, and I wondered what I would pitch to G. Lucas if I was asked to come up with a rebooted take on Star Wars IV: A New Hope.

This is my take, written very quickly to get it all down. I wouldn’t call it a final version–there’s a bit more to work out, but I’m not going to put the effort in until someone wants to offer me the job.

What classic movie/movie franchise would you reboot?

STAR WARS: The Rebootening

First, let’s acknowledge that the stuff that came as a surprise in the original series isn’t surprising any more. (“That’s no space station!”)

Start with the attack on Leia’s fleeing ship and the escape of the droids. Vader menaces Leia in front of her staff, then whisks her away.

The droids make it to the planet, but they know exactly where they’re going–straight to Owen and Beru’s place.

Luke works on his uncle’s moisture farm, but old Ben Kenobi is a farmhand there. He’s been keeping an eye on Luke for his whole life. Luke, of course, is the secret son of the incredibly-powerful wizard-general of the Empire, and he might be useful someday.

The droids arrive, and Ben takes them off to an outbuilding to “work” on them. Luke complains about having to do Ben’s chores as well as his own, but the adults are tense and nervous about their arrival.

Luke wants to get off the farm, but not to join the rebellion. He wants to pilot one of those Imperial Dreadnaughts–a lifetime of Imperial propaganda has convinced him that the Republic was weak and corrupt. Biggs–an older friend from a nearby farm–says that there used to be a lot more smugglers, bounty hunters, gangsters etc in the old days, but the Empire has been cracking down. (Did you ever notice how *huge* the criminal class in SW was?) Luke, callow youth that he is, wants to be a big man. He wants to get off this measly farm and be *important*. Continue reading

via Keith Calder

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Be sure to watch to the end. This is classic. As Keith said, I’m glad this guy is out there.

The perfect gift for my wife!

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I think I’m going to pick the butt lion for her. The way the fabric is all dark at the center seam is so appealing. Or maybe I should go for the ass owl.

Aw, heck! I’ll get one of each! (seen via Cherie Priest’s FB)

eta: My wife has declared them “brilliant.” I still love her, though.

Unsurprising news

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Next V.I. Warshawski novel to be set in the tough streets of Provence.

via James Nicoll

Informal Poll, redux

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It was a comment on another board that prompted the informal poll from this morning. The writer stated that many people went to movies they knew would be awful (Hello, Transformers 2) because they wanted to be part of a big event.

Me, I was dubious, because what “event” could he be talking about? The release of a summer tent-pole movie? Somehow, I doubted it. More likely, I thought, was the surge of online commentary–argument about the plot, parodies, discussions of who’s hawt and who leaves you clammy, whatever.

I should note that I don’t go to movies for this–mainly because I don’t go to movies. It’s impossible to find a baby sitter, and my wife and son already saw PONYO without me (do I resent them for it? Fuck yeah.).

Books, well, I buy them near publication now, to support the author and make sure I have a copy when I finally get around to reading it 18 months later. But I don’t generally buy and devour (except for Harry Potter). Books just don’t have the same urgency.

And finally there’s TV. If enough people talk about a TV show, praise or slam, in interesting ways, I’ll make a point of watching it. I watched CASTLE because of this, and DOLLHOUSE, too. I used to read a lot of commentary on SUPERNATURAL, but it’s fallen off my reading list, and I’m not nearly as enthusiastic about the show as I used to be (for several reasons, actually, but that’s just one).

I also watch a couple shows that no one seems to talk about. AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN? Anyone? Even notice how it’s the women on that show who do all the cooking and the men are either taste-testing or in the back experimenting on melon ballers or whatever? No?

Anyway, I was just trying to determine what sort of “event” this fellow was talking about.

Informal poll

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Have you ever gone to see a movie in the theater/read a new book right away/rearranged your schedule to watch a TV program because you knew there would be talk about it in social media and you wanted to be part of the conversation?

Here’s the deal

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I met Charles Stross briefly a few months ago, and he recommended Dropbox for online backups. I like it, because it’s a little different from most services.

How it works: You install the program on your computers (assuming you have more than one, if you don’t, skip the rest of this post) and it places a folder called “Dropbox” in your system. Any file you move into this folder is automatically backed up to their online server when you next have an internet connection.

It also automatically downloads to the folder in your other computer. This way, your files stay synced on both machines.

I write on my laptop, copy the day’s work to the folder and let it upload. I know it’ll be on my desktop at home in seconds, and that Time Machine will back it up within the next hour. Plus, there’s the online copy.

It’s also useful, I’m told, for collaborating. I don’t need that so I haven’t put much thought into it. All I know is that there’s a way to create a public folder online where you can share files with other.

Why I’m telling you this: If you sign up (you can get a free 2GB account, which is more than enough for my writing) through a referral from me, we both get extra storage space above and beyond that two gigs.

I’ve been pretty happy with the service, although I haven’t had it for all that long and I haven’t needed it to restore lost work. If anyone wants a referral, drop a comment here, please.

Lunch question

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A salad still counts as a salad, right? Even if it’s small? Even if it comes served in a split french roll? With a whole bunch of lunch meat? Right???

I had a delicious salad for lunch today.

In other non-news, I’ve been meaning to followup on yesterday’s post about the difference between art and craft, but I slept poorly last night, and now I can’t muster any enthusiasm for it. I guess I’m not going to have a thinkier blog until a thinkier person starts writing it.

Expect more funny links and abbreviated complaints about healthcare reform!