The Writings of Shawn Gray

Horror Review: Jennifer’s Body (2009)

Shawn Gray — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 04:06:56 +0000

Jennifer’s Body (2009)is a sexy thriller involving bastardized occult rituals, murder, betrayal, and the supernatural. That’s a pretty short boil down to the movie, but there really isn’t too much more to it than that. The movie is full of plot holes (and yes, I realize the irony of that statement). Most of the actors, we will may hope to never hear from again, but they’re already becoming big names.

If you’re looking for a movie containing a monster that won’t frighten you, this will do. If you’re looking for a movie containing some sexy women, but never actually goes beyond a PG-13 bra-shot, this’ll do. If you’re looking for a movie with occasionally witty one-liners, like “a zombie mannequin robot statue” or “He listens to maggot rock. He wears nail polish. My dick is bigger than his.” Or “I dreamed some bad people were trying to nail you to a tree with hammers and big stakes and shit. Just like J.C. But I didn’t let ‘em get to you, ’cause I’m a hard-assed, Ford-tough mama bear.” Then this is definitely the movie for you, because it has that in spades. But if you’re looking for a horror movie that scares you, makes you laugh, or has a decent plot, this isn’t it.

I would say that’s the number one problem with this movie actually. They tried to make it slightly funny, slightly terrifying, and slightly cohesive, and then failed on all three counts. They had a few actresses that were mega sexy, but that’s about where anything interesting stops. They could have gone a lot further, pushed all sorts of envelopes with a premise like this, but they didn’t. Instead, they boiled things down. Hell, the characters weren’t even old enough to drink legally, so I guess that’s all we should expect.

In short, this movie wasn’t much. I’ve seen far worse, but far better. I’ll grant it two and half skulls.

Urban Jungle?

Shawn Gray — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:18:12 +0000

Somehow, a week has managed to come and go. Don’t ask me how, I couldn’t explain why the Earth spins, or how I could possibly have done so little in the week that just passed. Yup, did almost nothing again. Ok, that’s not exactly true I suppose, just didn’t make much headway with my writing goals.

Algonquin College

So, the week started out a little differently than I had anticipated. With no Internet, I figured I would have time to do a lot of different things, and that I’d be bored enough to do it. Not quite. Seems we, as humans, have a horribly endless ability to procrastinate when no one is checking up on us. We need someone to hold us accountable in order to actually follow through on a lot of things, especially if our mind sees it as something we’re “supposed” to do. Well, what I keep putting up as my writing goals is what I’m “supposed” to do. So naturally, I procrastinated.

Instead, I read through all of Robert J. Sawyer’s Wake. It’s the second part of a trilogy, but I’m not going to go into all the details about it in this post. Save that for Tuesday’s Book Review. A book review that I’ve already written and uploaded to the site to be posted next week.

On top of that, I’ve also read Kelley Armstrong’s Waking the Witch. The review for that one has been written and will be going up on September 14th. Much like the Sawyer review, it’s already uploaded and just waiting for the official publication.

As if that weren’t enough, I also had the opportunity to watch Jennifer’s Body (2009). The review for that piece has been written and uploaded, to be posted this upcoming Sunday.

Tomorrow night I will be watching Perfect Creatures (2006) with Sabrina (over a distance). I expect to have the review written for that piece that evening and set for release on September 12th.

I’ve also finished watching Stargate SG-1: Season 2, Watchmen (Widescreen Edition), and a few other movies I had no real reason to watch.

On top of all that, I went through with a side-project that I had been considering and putting together for a while. I’ve spoken a fair bit on this blog about my cycling, and I hope to get a lot more cycling in over the course of the year. I also know that there’s a lot that I need to learn on the subject. So, I started a cycling blog where I can keep track of my cycling habits, pass on what I learn, and tell biking tales. Who knows, at some point I may even gain enough knowledge to compare different equipment or compete in minor runs. For anyone looking to follow along, it’s called The Northern Cyclist . The site isn’t all it could be, but it’s only a side project that I probably shouldn’t be spending any time on anyways.

I had my orientation at the college on Monday. Turns out there’s a reason why I only have classes 3 days of the week, I’m expected to volunteer at other events throughout the remainder of the course and they want to make sure that I’ll have ample opportunity for it. In short, my suspicions were confirmed. I’m already ahead on my reading for the course (having nearly finished reading two of my textbooks cover to cover), and have already completed my first couple of assignments. To say I’m ahead is a bit of an understatement. I hope to stay ahead throughout the year. It’s the best way to ensure I get some stellar grades, learn everything that I can, and find a way to transpose that into a real career. I’d call that my plan for the year.

So, goals for this week that I’m going to get started on right after supper:

Super Sekrat Projekt, 750 words per day
Finish “Zombie Bob”
Watch Perfect Creatures (2006) and write review to be published here on Sept 12th

Science Fiction Review: Spinward Fringe – Fragments

Shawn Gray — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:00:33 +0000

Randolph Lalonde’s Spinward Fringe Broadcast 6: Fragments is the latest release in his long running space opera. Unlike many of the authors that I will be reviewing over time, Lalonde is an independent author, self-publishing online only. Most of his work is available in e-book for only, though a few copies of his work are available POD, like this latest release and the latest version of Spinward Fringe: Origins, the compressed trilogy that began the Spinward Fringe series.

Many people may feel leery about attempting books by an author that has not made it through the publishing houses. With many independents, they would probably be correct in their trepidation. Lalonde’s work however, is something that could, and should, have made it through a publishing house. At least, his most recent broadcasts are worthy of that honour. In the beginning of the Spinward Fringe series, it was pretty plain to see that that the author still had a lot of growing to accomplish. He needed more polish, and a more thorough build. I’m happy to say that he’s found his way to a solid theme.

Like many traditionally published work, this piece was nearly free of typos and major faults. Yes, there were a couple still hidden here and there, but nothing that interfered with the story (and I suspect they were made by the conversion to e-book process). The eye quickly skips over these minor blunders and keeps reading. The story in his latest broadcast is enthralling, pulling you through it page after page until you realize that its 3:30am and you’re supposed to be heading to work in four hours. Once I finally managed to get myself to start reading his latest instalment, I chewed through it quickly.

There were parts where I was excited, saddened, angered, and unfortunately, disappointed. The story is a good emotional roller coaster ride telling us the story about people as they deal with life in a universe at turmoil. Those characters are trying to survive, find their way, and help people as they beat back whatever oppression may be stepping up to try to take over.

In this story about characters, Lalonde gives us a number of interesting twists and turns. People are not necessarily who they appear to be, and many are capable of things that thus-far, we may have thought impossible for them to do. Unlike some traditionally published authors, Lalonde was able to make these impossible choices, make sense for the character. He was able to put in enough of a situational change that it would provoke a character change. Basically, he did what many authors strive to do: he made a sensible story arc that involved growth and change.

Admittedly, there was a part or two where I stopped and had to think to myself, “but would a person actually do that? Would this person actually do that?” After thinking it over, for almost all situations, I came down to a solid yes. The only pair that I had some difficulty accepting were near the end of the novel, and I’m not about to reveal the ending to potential readers. If you’ve been reading the series to this point (or are about to start reading the series), when you get to the spots that I’ve felt hiccups, you’ll probably feel them too. Knowing Lalonde, he’ll probably reveal some hidden under-plot that has been lightly hinted at in the next novel in the series that will make these uneasy moments make sense.

This is also probably the first time I came across one of Lalonde’s novels where an aspect of the technology was a little more difficult to swallow. Well, maybe this one is more like a biology aspect, but whatever. Without revealing this story, I’m going to have to use a different, unrelated series that has something similar-ish happen. In Stargate, the ga’ould are a parasitic organism that takes over a host, but the host can fight back and effect some change. Lalonde seems to be channelling that host issue in a part of this novel, and it’s a pretty important part of this novel. But it doesn’t really make sense given the circumstances around it. Initiating a “ghost in the machine” aspect within the “ghost in the machine” aspect is a very difficult pill to swallow. But again, I have faith that he’ll get it sorted for us by the end of the next novel.

Fragments is the second book in a “self-contained” trilogy. The final instalment of the trilogy promises to wrap up the main, overarching plot of broadcasts 5-7, but leave just enough of an opening to allow for further books in the series, provided there is still a demand. If Randolph keeps improving his writing, I’m sure that demand will be there.

To find out more about Spinward Fringe and Lalonde’s other work, I recommend checking out his website: http://www.spinwardfringe.com

In all, I’m giving Randolph’s latest, and in my opinion greatest broadcast, four out of five.

Horror Review: The Wolfman (2010)

Shawn Gray — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:16:11 +0000

If you’re looking for an unpredictable romp with werewolves, this isn’t the movie for you. If you’re looking for a tale where the werewolves are good guys, this isn’t for you. If you’re looking for a classic werewolf tale, then this is a pretty good route to take.

The movie wasn’t overly original, but then again, it was a REMAKE. It’s not supposed to be original. The effects were pretty cool, and the story, including the stay and slaughter at the asylum was pretty sweet to watch. I admit, it started off slow, but this is a movie where its worth letting the momentum build into a roller coaster of doom.

One thing I didn’t like: the opening for a sequel. Not cool. There shouldn’t be a sequel. The remaining characters aren’t interesting enough on their own, and they should know better now.

I gave it a generous four skulls out of five.

Arbour of Relaxation

Shawn Gray — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:53:10 +0000

After a lengthy bike ride, I found my way to Algonquin College. Unfortunately my reason for going there that day was a bust as I had forgotten something at home, but I decided to explore the place anyways. It took me an hour to get there, so I may as well explore, let my biking muscles recoup, and familiarize myself with a place that I’ll be spending an awful lot of time this year. During my explorations I found an absolutely beautiful court (pictured below). The majority of the area is open to the sky, and even the tresses don’t really offer any protection from rain, but the whole area was a beautiful mixing of the natural and unnatural worlds. I think I found a spot to write and study between classes on nice days.
The past few days I’ve been without Internet. I had decided to try out Wind Mobile’s “Infinite Laptop” mobile plan. Well, the device sucks through data far quicker than I actually use it. Somehow, in 20 days, it managed to punt through 85 GB of information. And then it stopped. Completely. I got a message the next day telling me that because I had used so much data, I was being throttled by Wind. Now, in most people’s vernacular, throttled would mean slowed. Apparently to Wind, it means discontinued. So, I’m sitting in a Starbucks right now drinking some expensive coffee, and looking up home internet suppliers. If Wind wants to throttle me like that, I’ll throttle my continuation of services with them. Goodbye Wind. I wanted to like you, I really did. I’ll continue holding on to your phone for a while longer, but your internet services aren’t worth the money.
Having been without Internet, I was forced to be a little creative with my time. As a result, I finally got around to reading Randolph Lalonde’s Spinward Fringe Broadcast 6: Fragments. I’ve already typed up the review, and it will be “published” here on Tuesday. The basics of the review: good read, only a couple typos, he’s shown a lot of growth over the series, and I can’t wait for the next one. In addition to reading his novel (entirely on a de-activated Blackberry Pearl Flip 8220), I’ve also been reading through my textbooks for the fall. There’s only a couple weeks left until classes start and I can hardly wait.
As I won’t have Internet access until next week sometime, I’ve pulled one of my older horror movie reviews off Facebook and have touched it up a bit. It’ll be going up on Sunday as usual. I think we’ve decided to watch David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers (1988) this Friday, so I’ll be writing up the review for that to go up the following Sunday. Sorry folks, it’s a bad bit of time for the net to go down I’m afraid.
In the realm of writing, I’ve been a bad bunny. I did not write a single word of my novel. I wanted to, I really did, but I just couldn’t get my butt in the chair. That being said, I wrote a short story that I think is kinda funny, which means it’s probably disturbing. I’ve temporarily entitled it “Zombie Bob”. I’m going to give it a once-over and then submit it to a smaller publisher that’s specifically looking for zombie stories for their first issue. They only pay a penny a word, but considering I don’t want to spend a lot of time slaving away at this story, I think I’m good. The story is just over 2100 words.

Without Internet access, I don’t know if there’s been any response yet from Northern Frights Publishing concerning “Thrown Away”, but then it is still very early to be receiving any sort of confirmation. Their closing date for submissions hasn’t even arrived yet. On the bright side, that means I wasn’t rejected on-sight, which is probably all that they’ve done for eliminating submissions so far. Again, they don’t pay much (and only via PayPal), but I like the idea of their anthology and want my piece in it. Hell, the amount I’d get if they accept my submission is enough to pay my banking fees for one month. If it’s one less bill I have to pay, I’m all happy. Plus, I’d get a copy of the anthology, and I think that’s one that I want to have on my shelf.
I know, I know. Those last two paragraphs make it sound like I’m settling for bottom rung. They make it sound like I’m settling for a non-professional level of pay for professional level work. To that I say, there’s a coolness factor in these choices. I mean, let’s say I get “Thrown Away” published. Does it sound better if it’s published in the anthology “FALLEN” with other stories of demons and devils, or in a general magazine like “On-Spec” which mixes science fiction, fantasy and horror? For “Zombie Bob”, does it sound cooler in an anthology called “Zombie Feed” mixed with other zombie stories, or in “Apex Magazine” mixed in with science fiction? Both “On-Spec” and “Apex Magazine” pay much better, and are known a lot better than the publishers of these anthologies, but I like the themes of the anthologies more than a general mish-mash of unrelated stories.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t aim for the anthologies off the draw. You’ll remember that “Thrown Away” was first submitted to “Chizine”, which is probably one of the best horror magazines in the business. I’ll be submitting a lot more stuff to “Chizine” in the future. I’ve also got some stuff that I’m preparing specifically to start submitting to “On Spec”, and I have another package almost ready to go out to “Apex Magazine”. These markets are not being avoided, by any sense of the word. But they aren’t the only markets for my work, and sometimes a certain coolness factor does have to come into play. Just like I’m also working on a short piece that sounds good when read aloud for “Pseudopod”, which again does not pay well, but sounds cool and acts as another spot to put out work.

Anyhow, I’ve written half as many words in this blog today as I did in my short story this past week, so I figure it’s time to set forth some goals.

• Write 750 words per day on the novel (5,250)
• Finish “Zombie Bob”, find a better title for it, and submit it to the anthology
• Write a Movie Review on David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers (1988)
• Continue work on editing “Blood & Puppies”, including finding a better title

Sounds like a lot, I know. But I’m without internet for a little bit, so why the hell not? It’s better than watching another whole season of Stargate SG1 (which I’ve done in the past three days…)

Horror Review: Orphan (2009)

Shawn Gray — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:00:15 +0000

The Orphan is a story about family and loss. The thing that I want to emphasize the most when I review this particular piece is that it is a story about family first. Before the thrills, before the sadness, before the happiness and pain, it is a story about family. Not only that, it is a very cohesive story about family, with only minimal plot holes.

We know from the very beginning that Esther, the orphan girl, is going to be evil in some way, shape or form. The moment we first meet Esther, the viewer gets that impression. Heck, until someone other than the “father” recognized Esther’s existence, I borderline thought that she might be an apparition. We’ve had a lot of movies lately with a small girl being some supernatural evil, so that is exactly what I was expecting with Orphan. Minor spoiler alert here: she isn’t supernatural.

The kids in this movie were excellent. They all played their roles very well, and made for very convincing characters. They’re pretty good actors, and I hope they move forward and improve as their careers continue. As for the adults… Well, they should get out of acting now. Or at least resign themselves to bit parts in the background. The “father” let his voice and affectations slip often in the movie, revealing an individual with a bit of a gay flair. I’ve got nothing against people that choose a preference for the same gender, but if you’re going to play a straight man in a movie, you have to push your flair back.

As for the female lead, she was very much a deer in headlights actress: great when acting surprised, but that’s about it. Her interactions with the other characters weren’t believable, and she didn’t sell herself as being a mother. Sorry, but it just didn’t come across. The nun and shrink, for their supporting roles, were decent. As were the various other adult characters with bit roles.

As I said, The Orphan is a story about family. So if you’re expecting a non-stop thrill fest, blood & guts, pop-out screams and the like, you’re looking at the wrong movie. If you’re feeling tired when you sit down to watch this movie, put it aside and choose something else. I’m not going to get all pretentious and say this movie is cerebral, because it isn’t. But I will say that you have to be patient and watch the story unfold like a flower slowly blooming, one petal at a time. When the twist shows up, it will be a little unexpected, and all the pieces will fall into place.

All told, I found myself entertained by this movie, and think a lot of other horror fans will as well. I award this movie three and a half skulls.

Bicycle Bound

Shawn Gray — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 22:37:58 +0000

So here I am, posting a day late. Sorry everyone, just didn’t feel much like blogging yesterday. Have I been writing a lot like I’m supposed to be? Afraid not. In fact, I’m already dreadfully behind on my goal, having just spent two of the past seven days actually writing. I don’t even have an excuse this time, I just never sat down and got to it.

I realize that’s something that I’m going to have to get down to fixing, the sooner the better. I’ve written a mere 2,146 words on my novel this past week, when I should have written 5,250. That puts me in the hole 3,104 words. Ouch.

On the bright side of things, I’ve been getting a fair bit of exercise in. I’m cycling everywhere that I choose to travel in Ottawa. A sheer lack of funds makes cycling a much more cost effective method, even if I have to put air in my rear tire everytime I go out. To the left, you’ll see a photo I took at the South Keys Shopping Center. The area has expanded a fair bit since I last lived in Ottawa. Unfortunately, as I discovered with Billing Bridge Mall, they’ve often sacrificed an element of beauty for more stores & kiosks. I suppose that’s to be expected these days.

Needless to say, with about 2-hours worth of cycling every day, I’m getting in much better shape than I was while in Sudbury. I’m thinking of uping my cycling time so I can get in even better shape, but I like to have a destination when I ride. For example, one day I’ll say “I’m going to Algonquin College” and that’s where I’ll bike. Or I’ll say, “I want to eat out at Cora’s on Belfast, then go to St. Laurent Mall, then check out the Walmart at Trainyards Mall” and suddenly I’ll have a good route for the day. Do I spend much on my excursions? Well, if I decide to eat, then I guess I do. But generally, I just pick up something to drink at my destination and that’s it. Still, that could be solved by having a decent water bottle. Maybe I’ll head to back to South Keys Mall and see if the Walmart there has any good water bottles that I can choose to bring with me. The lids on my old water bottles no longer sealed properly, so I had to recycle them.

Anyhow, back to writing stuffs. I actually submitted “Thrown Away” to Northern Frights Publishing. They are putting together a demon-related anthology called Fallen. I figure “Thrown Away” could be seen to fill that requirement. The pay is pretty low, only a penny a word. With non-professional pay, I figure unless they see my short story as being too short for their anthology, I have a pretty decent shot of getting them to pick it up. If they don’t, there’s plenty of other places that I can send it out to. Yes, I know I went from one of the highest paying markets to one of the lowest for my submission, but I figure an anthology is a pretty good market to get in, even if the pay isn’t there. It’s not all about money.

So, my goals for next week are:

Write 750 words/day on Super Sekrat Projekt (5,250 words)
Write a Horror Review for Sunday
Go through “Blood & Puppies” & prepare edit notes

I figure that’s lot. Hopefully I’ll be able to get it done this time.

Horror Review: Crazies (2010)

Shawn Gray — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:25:40 +0000

If you’re looking for plot, you’ve come in the wrong direction. Crazies is a blood and guts, kill’em all style of movie. Originally, I had thought it was zombie-esque. But with our foes choosing not to dine on the corpses of the fallen, that removes that little taste of plotless glory.

There’s a lot that they could have done with different parts of this story. There are a lot of different directions they could have chosen to take. Unfortunately, they went to the love & guts path, and decided to ignore a whole lot of other fun stuff that could have been used.

The basic synopsis: a town’s water supply is infected as a result of a downed aircraft that was carrying a bio-weapon that turns everyone into psychos. The bio-weapon becomes airborne at some point. A small group of “unaffected” individuals must try to escape before the military kills them all.

You don’t need to be in the medical field to begin to see the gaping plot chasms in that storyline. If its gone airborne, their proximity has got them infected. Numerous wounds end up on all of our “heroes” at some point or another, giving us yet another point of contamination. Hell, at one point, a character has a knife stuck through his hand, kills one of the infected, and pulled the knife out of the back of his hand, thereby dragging the infected’s blood through his own. Yeah, chance of infection pretty near 100% there. But they’re not infected at all eh?

To make matters worse, a “military grunt” ends up becoming exposed, and is released back into the military without letting anyone know that he’s been exposed. We have our undercover operative who is revealing that there’s a 48-hour incubation period, who is quickly offed. And the list goes on, and on. They could have called it Murphy’s Law, because everything that can go wrong does, and a lot of it for no apparent reason.

Despite the lack of cohesion and sheer quantity of plot chasms in this movie, there are some scenes that make it worth checking out. The corpse wagon, definitely high on my list. Also, the closing scene (you’ll know which closing scene when you watch the movie) is very beautiful and would probably make for a really nice desktop wallpaper… Maybe I’ll go see if I can find that shot somewhere on the Internet to grab it and use it right now.

Is the movie “over” when it ends? This is Hollywood folks; these days movies are never “over”. It comes to an ending, we know that something worse is about to happen, and we know damn well there’s no bloody way they aren’t infected. Does that mean I want to watch a sequel? Not particularly. It’ll probably be just a rehash of the same bad plot on a larger scale. Maybe with a fresh cast of “Left For Dead” video-game style characters.

Two out of Five Skulls. There’s a couple scenes worth watching for, but leave your brain at the door.

Outlines Should Be Dotted

Shawn Gray — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:31:33 +0000

It’s hard to believe that I’ve already been in Ottawa for over a week. I’ve spent so much time biking around, exploring the area, getting caught up with friends, and preparing for school that I feel absolutely exhausted. I suppose that’s part of the reason why I chose to stick around the house today (well that and the inspection from the landlord).

Last night was the first time I finally sat down at the work station I put together and seriously began working on my writing since I moved down here. I’ve sat at the workstation and puttered around earlier in the week, but didn’t really make any headway. Last night I turned off the computers, pulled out my note cards, my moleskin, and my big blue pen. I spent about three hours fighting my way through an outline for my Super Sekrat Projekt ™. I managed to get through outlining the second act before I turned in last night (about the 75% mark of the book).

I set my alarm for early this morning. Well, early in comparison to the past week anyways. After my morning coffee and some breakfast, I sat down and hammered out the remainder of the novel. It took long enough, and I think my outline got more and more detailed as I approached the closing. I’m pretty sure I was getting excited and really liking the direction I ended up taking. Once I hit the ending, I had to add a couple more cards into the first and second acts in order for some things not to be “last minute additions.”

I seem to have more “important” characters in this novel than I had expected. Originally there were just three characters that “required” names and fully character sketches. By the end of it, I had doubled that number. Not only that, but I was able to come up with some links for the second book in the series. I know I can go to three books, but I need to get this first one completed before I start work on the other two. I console myself with the knowledge that my book one outline contains enough unfinished business that although a second book isn’t necessary, it’ll be wanted by anyone that may like this novel.

I’ve flipped through my outline cards four or five times since I finished the last one. Every time I do, I feel more and more confident that I have a solid novel outline in front of me. Tonight will begin the hard part: writing it without stopping and saying “this sucks.” That seems to be a pretty common problem among unpublished authors, and I know that I’m no exception.

I’ve written several novels, and numerous short stories. For many of them, I turn back to work on them, and end up coming up against the “this sucks” wall. For those of you that have been reading this blog, you’ll know all about the whole reading week – Hedged In fiasco. I spent a whole week toiling away with edits of the manuscript. Then, when I finally sat down to rewrite it from the beginning, I realized just how horrific a novel I had churned out during NaNoWriMo 2009. I scrapped my notes (and rescued them a couple days later, but that’s besides the point). I still haven’t picked Hedged In back up beyond pulling the important plot points from it for use in a complete rewrite at some point down the line.

So, I’m coming down to a point where I have to fight my way through any “this sucks” wall that may show up. I need to get a novel fully edited with its sequal outlined and started. I need to shop it around and sell it somewhere. I NEED to stop sitting on the sidelines. I can and will get my current project finished and published.

With that in mind, I’m setting forth my new goals. My length requirement for this novel is 95,000 words. I aim to do 750 words per day. If I were to manage that every day, I would be finished by mid-December. I expect to require a few days off here and there in regards to that goal, but am placing a firm deadline of December 31st for completion of 95,000 words for my Super Sekrat Project ™.

I think everyone can see a small issue: NaNoWriMo is in November, and in order to get 50k in November, a goal of 1,667 words per day is required. That’s also true. But I’d rather have 22,500 good quality words than another copy of Hedged In that I’ll have to completely redo from scratch. That means that yes, I will be opting out of NaNoWriMo this year, for the first time since 2004. Weird I know. It leaves me a little uncomfortable, but getting a project properly done is more important to me. I’ll still attend whatever write-ins I can manage here in Ottawa as a way of meeting other writers, but I won’t be doing a NaNo novel this year.

On the topic of meeting other writers, I still haven’t received the meeting information for The Ottawa Young SFF Writers Group. It’s been over a week since they replied to my original email (which was sent a couple months ago). Needless to say, I’m not overly impressed with their organization at this point, but I still want to give them a shot (so long as I get the meeting information sometimes soon).

I did get the chance to meet up with Kaitlyn and Ethan, who are writing Science Fiction. They expressed an interest in meeting up about writing stuff, but I’m not sure where either of them are in the spectrum, or if they’re looking for critiques at this stage in the game. I’ll have to talk to them some more about the prospects, and whether they’re up for cross-genre critiques or if they want to stick with science fiction only.

I dislike the idea of being the one to organize a writing group in the area. Not because I don’t like running things, but because I want to focus on my schooling and my writing. Being the organizer in addition to those other two major goals may cause something to suffer in a way I don’t like. Not really something that I want to happen.

Anyhow, I’ve blathered on enough for today. Here are my goals for the next week:

Write 750 words a day (5,250 words) on Super Sekrat Projekt ™
Write a Horror Movie Review due Sunday

Horror Review: 2012 (2009)

Shawn Gray — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 15:36:51 +0000

Marked as a thriller, this movie promised to be a non-stop ride through the end of the the world, literally. We were taken to “the end of the world”, and there were some pretty awesome special effects. Ok, the special effects filled me with wonder at the awesome power of the things being depicted. I was drowned in the torrential sea of special effects.

Now that I have the raving about special effects out of the way, I can talk about the rest of the movie. The acting is poor. Good thing there aren’t any particularly big actors in this movie, or they may just have ruined their carreers with acting jobs like this. Not once did I come close to believing the sincerity of any character in the movie. Their inability to hold the story, was a real let down.

Speaking of story, the storyline is almost non-existent. Here it is in a nutshell: The world is coming to an end because solar flares are heating the Earth’s core. Scientists know, the governments know, and they’re getting prepared for it. And then it happens, early. Pandemonium, sacrifice, infighting, humans are not good creatures. The main core survives. End of story. I did something with this movie that I’ve only done a couple of times: turned it off half-way through on my first watch because I were bored. I watched the rest a couple of days later while folding laundry because there was nothing better to do.

If you’ve got a brand new 1080p, 3-D TV with all of the extra bells and whistles, go ahead and get it for the wow factor. Otherwise, wait for a cheapie bin (or buy it now from amazon and argue against me!)

Two skulls (out of five)