A.J. Maguire

Tag: entertainment

  • Red Dawn — Review (Yes, I mean the new one)

    This was another one of those movies that I really wanted to see but had to wait because it didn’t seem appropriate for my five year old.  (I do try to be a good parent.)  So when I spotted it in the store this week I nabbed it, fully expecting to enjoy it because … Well … Chris Hemsworth was in it.

    And we all know I’m a Hemsworth fan.

    So anyway, I bought the movie and watched it.  And, of course, I enjoyed it.  I was a Swayze-Red Dawn fan, too, so I understood the premise.  When the movie first came out I heard a few grumbles about the fact that it didn’t make sense to go remaking a film that wasn’t all that old.

    Honestly, that doesn’t bother me.  They keep remaking Cinderella and Snow White and Robin Hood (good heavens, how many Robin Hood’s are out there now?) into different versions, so why get all up in arms about this one?

    It did have a major shocker in the end for me, which I promise not to spoil.  Just … you know … it’s a war movie.  Beloved characters die.  I should have walked into it with the same amount of reserve I have for a Scott Sigler novel.  Whenever I read one of his books I have to repeat the mantra; “Don’t get attached to the walking body count on the page.”

    A pleasant surprise for me was the appearance of Jeffery Dean Morgan.  Given that I recently became a Supernatural fan, I couldn’t help perking up when I spotted him on the screen.  And he delivered one of the funniest lines in the movie, too, which was a plus.

    Now then … for the actual plot … it wasn’t super different from the first version; a group of kids manage to escape an invasion and then turn around to wreak mayhem on the invading forces.  This was mostly an action movie, with lots of fun explosions and fast paced scenes.  I enjoyed it, even if I did want to smack one of the characters around for being an idiot.  (Watch it, you’ll see which one.)

    So!  For a rating scale … I’d give it five stars.  Don’t go into it expecting profound revelations, just sit back and try not to get attached to any one character specifically.  They are at war, after all.

  • The Importance of Positive Reinforcement

    Dead Magic is officially in the hands of my publisher.  (Woo!  Happy confetti is getting tossed about my apartment right now!)  I’ve also started poking around review sites to see about getting the book out there … and there will probably be Giveaways and all that jazz when it’s time for the release.

    But as a special treat for myself for finishing the edits and meeting the deadline, I totally got my hair done.  First time getting it professionally highlighted and all that jazz.  It was definitely an experience.

    Is it morbid that the first thing I thought about when they put me under the dryer thing was that episode of Supernatural where the lady totally got fried under one?  (Relax, those machines can’t really do that to you.  The Winchester boy’s were hunting a witch at that point.)

    Anyway, that was my positive reinforcement for meeting the deadline.  Rewards are so very important for writers.  Yes, we love good reviews (and by that I mean our hearts flutter) and finishing a book in itself can be a reward, but physical rewards are important too.

    Let’s face it, the act of writing is a solitary event.  It requires that we agonize over verbs and nouns and fighting between active versus passive voice, and it’s really frigging hard.  And most of us never really think what we’ve written is worth the paper to print it out, even if the marketing people insist that we pretend it’s incredible.

    So after weeks and months of self-imposed solitary confinement, staring at words until they burn into our retinas, struggling to make a clear statement out of messy plot complications, and fighting tooth and nail to make a believable character arc appear on the page … we writers really do deserve a reward.

    It’s all about the positive reinforcement, people!

  • The Editing Domain

    The single greatest lesson I’ve learned as a writer is how to eat humble pie.  Editing, even self-editing, forces me to look at my own silly nonsense and try to make it something readable.  I mean, there are honest mistakes like the one I ran across this morning …

    “Staring at hew as though …”

    Which should have read like this — “Staring at him as though …”

    (By the way, thank you Word Program for assuming I meant “hew” there.  Go team failure!)

    Typo’s happen.  I know that.  I write everything by hand first so when I’m actually typing things I’m not really looking at the screen.  So I can forgive myself — and often laugh — at such mistakes.

    But there are other mistakes that make me blush.  Mistakes dealing with a very broken mythology that require an Alpha/Beta Reader to come along and tell me the harsh truth in the nicest way they know how.  And really, my Alpha’s and Beta’s are awesome.  They know me well enough to know how to crush my soul without making me cry.

    Or … well … I cry on the inside.  But normally it’s a frustrated — “Why would I write that in there?” cry and not a “They all hate me and I want to go eat worms” cry.

    The editing domain for me comes in two parts.  The first part is the most extensive and it requires absolute focus.  I sometimes loathe myself for the fact that I have to print out the pages so that I can mark on them, but I try to make up for that by recycling.  (What can I say?  I have a Go-Green spirit and a ruthless work ethic warring each other.)

    Anyway, during that first editing pass I can’t split my attention between projects.  Which is frustrating because I like to have multiple projects going on at the same time.  But when I hit the second editing pass things go really quickly.  Generally, all the work is already done and all I have to do is transcribe it onto the computer.

    Which, in turn, frees up my brain power.  And since I’m on the second pass of Dead Magic right now I was able to finish the rough draft for Tapped this week.   I have to admit that I surprised myself with Tapped.  I wasn’t expecting to have it done until the middle of the summer.

    But hey!  It’s done!  That leaves me with Usurper to finish before the end of the year and a couple of mountains to climb.  I’m starting to think I didn’t challenge myself enough with my New Year’s Goals or something.

    All I can say is … I own 2013.

  • Deadlines

    If you’ve been following my Blog then you know I have a deadline of March 1st for my book Dead Magic to be edited and in the (virtual) hands of my publisher.  Dead Magic is the sequel to Witch-Born and, I think, the last book in the world of Magnellum.

    Probably.  More than likely it’s the last one.  We’ll see.  I said Sedition would be a stand-alone and I’m working on its third book now.

    In any case, I am right on target for my March 1st deadline.  So don’t worry!  (Trust me, if I were worried about it I wouldn’t be pausing to write a blog, I don’t care what the Marketing people have to say.)  But the whole deadline thing got me to thinking about how deadlines have really altered my writing habits.

    Honestly, if you’re one of those writers who just writes whenever and shrugs about when they might get their manuscripts finished, then you need to start making some deadlines.  I used to be that way, too.  Until I learned that a deadline — even a self-imposed deadline — means that I really do get more done.

    Some people might groan and say that stress can stifle their creativity, but it really does work.  Sometimes we need to stress ourselves out.

    It’s almost as good as the best advice I ever read about writing.  I can’t remember who wrote the book, but the advice was to write yourself into a corner.  By that I mean, write your characters into an impossible situation.  People don’t care about run-of-the-mill situations after all, they want to see what these characters will do when they are faced with impossible situations, terrible choices, and the like.

    Best.  Advice.  Ever.

    But next up is writing with deadlines.  Contracts are fun and they make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside when you can say; “Oh, this one is on contract so I have to get it done.”  However, even inside a contract you have to make deadlines.

    Rough draft done by December.  Edits done by March 1st.

    Those are really vague deadlines, but they work.

    So!  I highly recommend deadlines.

    And, of course, writing yourself into a corner.

  • “Swan Song”

    As with all the shows I watch, I had to pick out my favorite episode of Supernatural.  For Doctor Who it was Midnight.  For Quantum Leap it was the last episode — though I haven’t watched that show in ages so I might change my mind after a re-watch.  And for Supernatural it has to be “Swan Song.”

    I’m not going to give any spoilers — I hate spoilers — but I might hint at some things.  If you catch on because of my hinting I sincerely apologize and give you permission to revoke all my Netflix rights for a month.

    Now then, let me tell you why I loved “Swan Song” the best.  If you’ve already seen the show then you know all about the whole Apocalypse problem Sam and Dean (our two intrepid heroes) were struggling with.  The writers of the show managed to take a global threat — the end of the world — and turn it into the most intimate of problems by pitting Sam and Dean against each other.  (Kind of.  Watch the show and you’ll understand.)

    But the reason I love that episode the most is because of one line delivered by Dean.  One simple, heartbreaking line:

    “It’s OK, Sammy.  I’m here.”

    No, Sam’s not dying at that moment.  You’d expect that line to be delivered by someone holding their brother’s guts in with a towel or something, but that’s not what happened.  Not remotely.  In fact — mild spoiler alert — the line is delivered while Dean is getting the snot beat out of him.

    It was beautiful.  Everyone told me I’d start to cringe at the show when Angels showed up, but they were wrong.  The path the writers put these two characters on sort of required the other end of the spectrum to come into play (i.e. Angels and the God question) so it made perfect sense.

    (By the way, we can thank that nasty flu bug for me getting through all 7 seasons of Supernatural in the past three weeks.  I couldn’t concentrate to get any writing done and I barely managed to keep up on my homework, so that left a lot of hours to kill whilst bedridden.  I’m better now, so don’t worry.  Edits on Dead Magic are progressing at a steady rate.)

    So!  Swan Song is my favorite Supernatural episode ever.  It’s not one you can watch without seeing the road leading up to it, though.  If you’ve never seen the show, you should.  Start at the beginning and plow right through.  (It’ll help if you’re sick or something and can’t do much else.)  I promise, it’s worth it just to get to that moment with Sam and Dean.

  • High Heels

    All right, so I was at the gym plugging away on the elliptical when I ran across a show called Castle.  Stars Nathan Fillion, who every Whedon fan knows and loves as Captain Reynolds  on Firefly.  I did an inward fan-girl squee because … yeah, I was at the gym on the elliptical machine and I didn’t need to throw around more evidence of my Geekdom whilst among weight-lifters and such.

    Due to school and a personality that almost always has something to do, Netflix is my normal means of catching up with TV and society.  (At present, I’m addicted to Supernatural — many thanks to Erick Kripke for creating such a compelling series.)  So, I hadn’t actually heard of this show called Castle.

    Let me first say that I do adore Fillion as an actor.  I enjoyed the concept of a writer helping murder investigations because … well, writers tend to be twisted and are forced to think outside the box in order to create a work that can manage to surprise our violent and jaded society.

    I even liked the acting.

    But I hated Nikki’s shoes.  Seriously.  As a martial artist and a girl, I have to complain here.  Women in heels who run for their lives generally kick those heels off at the first available moment.  You can’t run in those things.  Physics are against you.

    Anyone trained knows you move faster without them.  So a girl chasing a bad guy would naturally want more practical footwear.

    And you know … I honestly thought most people knew this.

    So, as much as I desperately wanted to love the show based on Fillion’s character alone … I just could not get past the high heels.  (Platform heels, mind you.  Not just stubby heels.  I might have forgiven them for stubby heels.)

    On a side note, I mentioned this complaint to my grandmother, who I was surprised to learn used to wear what she called “Tina Turner” high heels.  This immediately gave me an intensely funny image of my grandmother in platforms.  However, even she snerks at the idea of women in heels battling crime.

    Come on.  Women don’t need heels to be sexy and accomplished at what they do.  They certainly wouldn’t wear them to go running into a firefight.  Trust me, we’re tough enough to go all John McClane from Die Hard and kick some batoosh while barefoot.

  • Supernatural — The TV Show

    All right, so it seems I’m really late in coming to the scene with Supernatural.  It’s been running since 2005 and, if you’re not familiar, follows two brothers as they fight … well … supernatural forces.  Now, if you’re a critic or a fan of the show then I’m asking you not spoil anything for me.  I think I’m still in the first season and I’m enjoying it.

    As with everything I enjoy, I zeroed in on what could help me as an author.  And in this case, it’s the relationships on the screen.  Both Sam and Dean are very strong characters and engaging on their own, but when you put them together … Yeah, that’s when the really fun stuff happens.

    Yeah, they run around fighting ghosts and demons, and that’s interesting — if not creepy every once in a while — but watching them interact as brothers is what really keeps me glued to the screen.  I like them.  Not just Sam and not just Dean, but Sam and Dean together.

    Now, as an author this might pose a problem.  Because every book tends to require at least one “MAIN” character that we follow and root for.  One of the first questions that I have whenever I start reading a book is; “Whose story is this?”

    And then; “Why do I care?”

    But really, let’s just focus on that first question.  Or rather, I’m going to propose that we throw that rule out the window.  Because sometimes the more compelling story isn’t given by the “main” character, but a couple of characters and their relationship with each other.

    Supernatural could very well have gone and followed the father figure in the story, who runs off on his own hunting a particularly nasty demon.  Then we’d be focused on the one character and the fights he has.  But because they chose to focus on the brothers the show has an emotional depth that wouldn’t be there otherwise.

    We see Sam and Dean as vulnerable people with real issues.  Issues that are expounded by the fact that they are hunting the supernatural, but in the end they always get back in the car together.  Their relationship as brothers pushes them forward.

    So, as an author I’m happy to have finally started watching this show.   Seriously, no spoilers.

  • A Discussion on Sherlock Holmes …

     

    So I’m sick this weekend, which is good timing since school starts on Monday so if I’m going to be sick, it might as well be now.  I’m hoping to be 90% better and climbing by Sunday night.  But that means I get to do lazy-fun things like watch movies.

    I bought Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows for Christmas and hadn’t gotten around to watching it until last night.  I enjoyed Robert Downy Jr. and Jude Law in the first Sherlock Holmes movie they put out, so I was confident I would like this movie as well.  And I did.  Those movies have a distinctly steampunk flavor to them, though that might just be the era they are written in.

    However, I have to admit that the BBC’s Sherlock — which I watched several months ago on Netflix — has forever altered the way I look at Sherlock Holmes.  They are, in a word, brilliant.

    So when I sat down to watch Downy Jr. and Jude Law go gallivanting through London I had to make a conscious effort to ignore the Sherlock and Watson duo that Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman had portrayed.

    Granted, the BBC version is really an updated Holmes, putting him into our century with Blogs and things, so it is distinctly different from the period setting that we find in the movies.  But I promise you, if you watch the BBC version of Sherlock you will have the same problem as me.

    So!

    The verdict is that Game of Shadows was really quite good — even if it did rely on the shadow camera a bit more than the first movie — and the Downy Jr. – Jude Law duo is funny in an action-packed sort of way.    However, if you’ve read the books then you know how much dramatic license was taken with stuff there.  It’s a fun romp through Europe, but slightly less Holmes-ish due to all the action.

    Watch it and enjoy it, and -then- you should go watch the BBC’s Sherlock.  That way you’re not spoiled by the Freeman-Cumberbatch performances like I was.  (Because seriously … they’re brilliant.)

  • The Hobbit Movie Review

    My mother drove two hours up to my city so that we could go see The Hobbit yesterday.  We planned it for right after my first final — which was an oral exam that was quite terrifying, if I must be honest.

    I was a little torn about The Hobbit since I didn’t like the book so much.  Bilbo drove me a little crazy with all his whining about home, which made it hard for me to get into the book.  But, I figured if anyone could make his character likable for me, it would be Martin Freeman, who I’ve loved as an actor forever.

    And I was right.  Freeman’s portrayal of Bilbo was wonderful.  He whined a bit, but Freeman was able to make me understand why Bilbo was so out of place.

    The surprise for me was Richard Armitage as Thorin.  The man downright captivated me as Thorin.  As a writer, I am constantly watching for those things that really define a hero.  You know, the kind of hero everyone wants to rally for, who gets up after getting knocked down and faces a foe they know they can’t defeat but fights anyway.  Armitage made that kind of a hero.

    I loved it.

    There were some awkward moments in the beginning that felt far more comical than I was expecting, and I nearly face-palmed myself when Bilbo said he had to go back for his handkerchief (though, if I’m remembering correctly, that was in the book) but Freeman’s Bilbo made that an understandable moment for me.  Rather than being annoyed, as I was when I read the book, I was amused.

    My Mom did mention that she should have taken a motion sickness pill before we went, though.  She loved the movie, too, but I just thought I’d warn everyone.  If you get motion sickness a lot, you might want to take a pill before.

    So!  It’s a great movie.  I’m looking forward to the rest of them and, if I could applaud the actors and crew for their work, I would.

  • Costumes

    Last weekend I had the pleasure of riding the Thunder Mountain Railroad train to the pumpkin patch with my mother and my son.  It was great fun and my son got to pick out two pumpkins — both of which have been properly carved and set outside our door.  Then, because we had a bit of time before my mother had to go home, we went costume shopping.

    It’s been a while since I’ve done that and I was more than a little startled at some of the costumes they had out there.  In particular, costumes for women that were blatantly meant for sex appeal.  I’m not going to rant and rave about that.  Honestly, if you feel comfortable in something like that, then have fun.

    However, there are many of us who would prefer to wear something fun without freezing in the late October weather.  There was only one small section of costumes that fit this bill and one of them included a Gumbi outfit.  (There was also a cute wizard costume but it was over a hundred dollars and I’m afraid I’m too cheap to permit myself such a purchase.)  I ended up purchasing a Star Trek costume even though it was made for a man and twice my size.

    Since I am a geek, this made me happy.  Even if I did choose to forego the Spock ears and just get a phaser (which has been commandeered by my son as one of the coolest toys we own).  In retrospect, however, I would have been three times as happy with a female Star Trek costume.  I can’t imagine this costume store had run out of such a thing since its shelves were full to bursting.  Which means they just didn’t think to put it in stock.  As if every woman in the world wants to wear fishnet pantyhose and above-the-thigh skirts.

    Like I said before, if you enjoy wearing those things then that’s fine.  I just wish they had a little more variety for those of us who don’t.    And I should probably qualify that statement with the fact that this was a family costume store, not just an odd-ball store.  My son is going to be Bumblebee from Transformers and they had plenty of stuff in there for him as well.

    But I’ll have fun on Halloween anyway, dwarfed in my Star Trek outfit and using my phaser every time my son does something silly.  I’m sure I could have found something online that fit me, but half the fun of Halloween is hunting for that costume and rifling through the stuff in the store.  As much as I love doing things online, using my Kindle, and rating books on Goodreads, there are still some things that you have to do physically — if only to get out of the house now and then.