Until Midnight (& Sometimes Later)

If I’m going to talk about movies, I need to start by talking about my movie viewing habits. There are a lot of films I’d like to see–and I usually know when they’re opening. Sometimes I’ll end up catching a bunch over the course of a three-day weekend. I guess I go on movie binges. When I’m busy, though, I end up catching things when they hit HBO or worse, when I’m on an international flight on a teensy, tiny screen.

When I still lived in upstate New York, things were easier. The theater was five minutes away. A thought of a movie could turn into “Let’s go” and fifteen minutes later we were sitting in the theater with popcorn. Now, with the closest multiplex half-an-hour away, planning is required. And time seems to be less available–gone are the days when I sat in the movie house hallway at the mall all day long waiting for the first show of Return of the Jedi.

There are more diversions here, too. Half-an-hour to the movie theater, an hour to the Philadelphia Ballet or the touring Broadway musicals or Dorian’s Parlor [steampunk!} or anything else in downtown Philly. My movie going is suffering.

And, last of all, when we moved I left behind my best friend Garcia. He was always up for a film, especially a thriller or a horror film. Garcia and I went together to see such notables as The People Under the Stairs and In the Mouth of Madness. My husband’s taste is somewhat more discerning . . . .

I’ve been keeping an eye on development and following the information trickling out by dibs and dabs about The Grey, and was I certain it was something I wanted to see. I was lucky enough to score tickets to one of the advance screenings (another nifty thing about living near a major metropolitan area). So, last week I dragged along my slightly reluctant husband about an hour-and-a-half away to catch The Grey.

The Grey is a very real film. I shivered just watching it. It was an interesting experience, as in recent years we’ve taken to seeing films in the later part of their releases in mostly empty theaters. This was an advanced screening, and a packed house–a whole ‘nother animal. The film has a beautiful, quiet almost surrealistic introduction narrated by Ottway (played to intense perfection by Liam Neeson), showing the dichotomy of the harsh survivalist and the introspective, hurting poet. Once the oil-rig workers have experienced their plane “malfunction” and end up out in the middle of the Alaskan Tundra with limited resources, it turns into something of a survivalist thriller, punctuated by interactions with supernaturally persistent wolves intent on hunting down the survivors.

Bouts of trying to trek through the elements are broken up by excellent dialogue between the characters as they ponder the meaning of life, the existence of god and all of the deep whys behind it all.

Two things make this movie stand out. One is the sprinkling of humor throughout to break the tension. In a half-empty theater it would have been harder to gauge if this was working–in the packed house we saw the film in, I could feel the tension rising, then someone on screen would drop in a zinger (often quite dark), and the whole house would react. You could feel everyone let out the breath they didn’t know they were holding. The pacing is really well done. I think I left dents in my armrests.

But the true star of the film is the performances. The intensity of the portrayals by everyone in the film, starting with Neeson in his leadership role, with absolute standouts by FranK Grillo, Dallas Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, and honestly the entire rest of the cast, makes the film what it is. You watch these characters grow, you suffer with them, and you die with some of them. You grow to care about them–and they are not the nicest guys!

It’s been a week since I saw this one, and it’s still echoing in my mind. I think it will be for a long time.

ETA: Now that the movie has opened, it’s been confirmed that there is a stinger after the credits. This was missing at the advanced screening. When you go see it, make sure you wait around until the bloody end.

It’s also going the around the interwebs that The Grey will be given a limited re-release in October for awards season. Hopefully, the fine performances will be recognized . . . .

Go see it. Sit in the front row if you can (I did). But don’t forget your sweater.

I’m heading down to Chattacon this weekend, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Last night, the programming schedule turned up in my email, and I’m very pleased to announced that they’ve put me on some panels! Without further ado:

FRIDAY
8:00pm Gallery A&B
Meet the Pro’s Reception
Wherein I will be hanging around mostly playing fangirl to the major guests of the convention . . . .

SATURDAY
2:00pm Gallery B
Stories: The Long and Short of It
[panelists: Lee, Miller, Van Name, Hammond]
Note: This panel is opposite the Baen Traveling Slide Show, and everyone on it (other than me!) is a Baen author. Odd scheduling]

5:00pm Gallery B
The Virgin Chronicles–Newbie Writers
[panelists: Hammond, Conley]

I will also be at the FOL (Friends of Liad) breakfast if there is one.

Last night was the first meeting of this year’s iteration of Jonathan Maberry’s Novel in 9 Months class. Looks like this one is going to be a blast! Definitely a diverse group of people, and the instructors have got this down to a science. Learned some things, reinforced some things, unlearned some things . . .

Came home after class to find the order for my new laptop (the current one now sounds like a jet taking off) had been cancelled due to a screw-up by AmEx.

So, this morning–fixed the laptop order. Worked out for the first time since my foot/toe surgery (yah!), now that I can wear shoes again.

On the schedule for the rest of the day: daily writing quota, copyediting, laundry(!), homework. Then later, I think we (dh and I) are going out to dinner with west coast Mark, followed by a flick. So, sitz fleisch.

But first, I better go take a shower . . . .

Sparkito Press is now live.

The first output from my imprint is now available for your reading pleasure.

The steampunk novella The Last Ride of the Iron Cowboy by James Daniel Ross is now available as an ebook for the Kindle [other formats to come at some point in the future] at the bargain price of $0.99 ! Or you can borrow it for free if you are an Amazon Prime member. James Daniel Ross is also the author of fantasy novel I Know Not, steampunk story Scoundrel’s Magic appearing in the collection In an Iron Cage: The Magic of Steampunk edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Elektra Hammond and Neal Levin, The Radiation Angels series, and stories in the award-winning collections Breach the Hull, So It Begins, and By Other Means all edited by Mike McPhail, and Dragon’s Lure edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Jennifer Ross and Jeffrey Lyman.

The Last Ride of the Iron Cowboy centers around Sheriff Jack Judge, lawman in the quiet town of Nowhere, Indiana. Although known as a sharpshooter in his younger days, his reputation has largely been forgotten–and he really doesn’t mind. But when his town is threatened by something completely outside the realm of his (or anyone’s) experience, nothing will stop Jack Judge from defending his town, even at the cost of his own life.

Featuring wonderfully relatable, complex characters set in a steampunk version of the Old West, Ross’s descriptive prose will draw you in and keep you reading through to the very end. He creates a beautifully detailed world that you’ll love visiting!

Available right now–what are you waiting for?

Mike spent a good chunk of yesterday helping his brothers move his mom (my MIL) from one section of Cokesbury Village (the senior living center she resides in) to another. This resulted in two carloads of assorted “stuff” that was surplused by the move to smaller quarters.

We did end up with some nice furniture that we will put to good use–enabling us to upgrade the guest room from a full size bed to a queen, and a nice little end table/cabinet we can use to park some of the cat “stuff” we use in the sunroom. But we also got all of the sewing and needlework supplies, as no one else in the family has any interest (my SIL knits, so she got all the yarn and knitting needles!).

One day I will get this house organized but, not today.

ETA: I went through the box of needlework patterns and books, sorting keepers from donations (keep an eye out at your next cat show raffle!). Logged the reference books into the library software–I am currently using Readerware 3. Currently number of books logged in: 8,945. The truly frightening thought: a good portion of Mike’s library has yet to be entered into the software. Nearly all of my books are, other than a few that have gotten misplaced in the packing process when we came here. I am sticking a small label in the books as I logged them into the software, so it is relatively easy to tell which ones have been missed.

The year 2012 actually started the way a new year is supposed to–with champagne, and music, and friends. Of course, it was a bit of a slow start–I’m still limping from the toe surgery I had on the 28th, and I don’t get my stitches out until the 3rd. I’ve been sitting down a lot.

2011 saw a lot more editing work come my way, as well as my first published story. Of course, more editing work means that I’m writing less to keep up with the editing. I need to find a better balance. The year also saw a shift in the balance between the sci-fi/fantasy and cat show worlds. BlueBlaze produced two litters of maine coon kittens (now all sold), and is now showing a havana queen, but on the whole I spent more of my available [weekend] time at conventions or book-related events rather than cat-oriented events. This shift has made me a happier person, and I plan to continue it. I have some [cat show] judging assignments coming up in the next year, and I look forward to them [particularly spending Valentine’s week in Malta], but I am severely curtailing my exhibition-only weekends in favor of sci-fi conventions, book fairs, and steampunk events.

Thanks to my GP sending me back to Physical Therapy, I finally started exercising, and I was doing close to an hour of cardio at a stretch prior to having my toe sliced open. I’m still trying to figure out how to do something, but I fear I need to wait until the stitches come out before either the exercise bike or the treadmill is an option.

In 2012, I want to:
Write more. And get better about putting aside time for it. To help achieve this, I’ve signed up for Jonathan Maberry’s Novel in Nine Months class, starting in mid-January. It’s about an hour-and-a-half drive each way, but only meets physically once a month, and I’ve heard very good things about it. Hopefully that will be the push I need.

Edit more. And perhaps more effectively. I’ve decided it’s time for a refresher–I’m planning on the EFA Advanced Copyediting class, which I haven’t taken yet. In the past I’ve found the online EFA classes to be extremely worthwhile and well worth the cost. The class runs six weeks and starts in late February–I’ll assess at the beginning of the month if I can manage it while taking Jonathan’s class.

Get more organized. I’ve started this, but I need to keep up with it, and refine it. I’m freelancing in enough different directions I need to be certain nothing falls through the cracks. I’m starting to think I need a virtual corkboard–or maybe a real one.

Get back into shape. This is somewhat contingent on the healing of the toe, but I had a pretty good start on it before the surgery slowed me down.

Lose the last blasted fifty pounds. Related to the above getting in shape. I’m tired of being overweight. It’s a bit tricky trying to diet when traveling, but I’ve done it before. I just need to wrap my head around it again. Exercising will help, I think.

De-clutter. Especially the extraneous paperwork. Some of this is part of various ongoing projects to scan and dump old stuff, and some of it is just dumping old stuff that we’ll never look at again anyway. There’s a lot of paperwork that we have no room for, and I’m tired of having it in the way.

Read my way through some of the backlog. And sift through some of the books and donate them. I could read from now until doomsday, and I’d never get through them all . . . it’s time to be merciless and cull the backlog again.

Clean out and organize the craft stuff/sewing stuff/needlework stuff in the guest room so guests will fit in there. ’nuff said

I think that will keep me busy until next year.

Last night we indulged ourselves a bit and headed into Philly to ring in the New Year with the Philly area steampunks at Dorian’s Parlor. We seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time downtown on Broad Street–just before Christmas we were at the Academy of Music to see the Philadelphia Ballet perform the Nutcracker, last night at the Doubletree for Dorian’s, and Friday night we’ll be back at the Academy of Music for the touring company of Hair.

Dorian’s was a little different this time around. Different for us, because Dark Quest Books wasn’t there promoting a book launch. And the event was a bit different this go ’round, because New Year’s Eve featured two hours of open bar, a champagne toast at midnight, and a full dinner buffet instead of the usual snacks and two drinks included with the cost of admission. Of course, the price of admission was a bit higher . . . but we weren’t scrambling to eat dinner before we heading into Philly for the evening. And the dinner buffet was tasty!

The evening was MC’d by G.D. (Geoff) Faulkson, and the entertainment was lovely, although a bit sparse. It started with Mike Lunapiena, The Wandering Cellist. Mike plays everything from movie/TV themes to hard rock (Stairway to Heaven!) to traditional tunes. He’s exceptionally entertaining, and a nice fellow to boot. His music is available online, and he has some fun videos up on youtube to give you some idea of how interesting a cellist can be if he puts his mind to it.

Most of the rest of the night was occupied by the musical offerings of DJ Dave Ghoul, spinning tunes while we ate, drank and made merry. At midnight, everyone joined in a champagne toast, courtesy of Hugh Casey, photographer extraordinaire.

Just after midnight, we began 2012 with the highlight of the evening’s entertainment: Professor Elemental. The professor is a hip-hop artist from the UK–a steampunk rapper. He’s very engaging, spontaneous and a tremendous amount of fun. His performance was high energy, unique, and funny. He is just splendid!

We also had a successful evening’s shopping and browsing at the wonderful vendors. I am the proud owner of my first underbust corset (which I ended up wearing most of the evening), courtesy of Thomas Willeford of Brute Force Leather. There was beautiful jewelry and gemstones to gawk at from Kirsten Houseknecht at the Fabric Dragon, while Nikki Cohen was there showing off (and selling!) the beautiful corsets and garments of Mayfair Moon, Hugh Casey was taking beautifully posed pictures in front of an absolutely awesome library backdrop, and both of the musical guests for the evening (The Wandering Cellist and Professor Elemental)were selling CDs.

We’ve been struggling to find something to do for New Year’s since we relocated. For many years, we just invited a crowd of twelve to twenty folks over for an Indian-themed buffet dinner (that took three or so days to cook), followed by a “bad” film or two. We got to share My Best Friend is a Vampire, Phantom of the Paradise, Terminator 2, and other better or lesser known gems with a group of friends, hesitating briefly at midnight for a champagne toast. But the usual crowd gradually moved away, had children, and eventually we shifted to a select group going out to dinner at our favorite restaurant (Lemon Grass) in Syracuse, who did a special New Year’s Eve menu.

Perhaps we’ve finally found someplace we can be happy ringing in the new year here in Delaware . . . .