A Family Newsletter Too Far

Still at home, but feeling a tad better than yesterday. What an unfun bug this one was. In any case, today's post is going to be short. I just wanted to drop in and wish you all a happy new year. To give you a summary of our year here in Maine, I'm including a link to the family newsletter I wrote this year. It's on a google page I just made--very basic stuff over there. Just click this link and go to the page, then click the pdf attachment. Hopefully it works. :-)

It's been a strange year, really. A lot of good things happened in our family personally, while at the same time a lot of awful things were happening in the world and the country. This whole recession thing is a big downer, but we've been able to escape unscathed thus far. (Knock on wood). I also got news that our home's appraisal came in high enough today, so that means the refinance is a go, which will save us something like $1300 or more a year for the next 30 years of our lives. That's a good feeling.

At this time, I'm just grateful to be (relatively) healthy, with a growing, happy family, a good job, nice house--I just feel all around blessed. And I'm gonna cut this cheesefest off now before I start writing a poem or something. Sorry.

Yesterday's movie was A Bridge Too Far, an all-star recreation of Project Market Garden in WWII. I'd never seen a movie that portrayed the tactical, practical side of war better than this--showing how necessary so many things are, from supplies to radios to intelligence to you name it. Really enjoyed the movie, but it's almost three hours long, so give yourself plenty of time to watch. And it's available in Blu-ray, which is a big plus. Three and a half stars. Just a few things kept it from four stars: Gene Hackman's awful Polish accent, some confusing cuts between troops--that sort of thing. Nitpicky, but there you have it. Still a great film.

Updates from the Sickbed

So here I lie. Still sick. Thankful for the internet, but really wishing I could be doing something. Working. Something useful. My mind isn't really thinking all too clearly, so I'm reluctant to write, as I have no idea what sort of tripe will come out of my fingers. (I've tried writing on an unclear mind before--what usually happens is that I think (at the time) that what I'm writing is pure genius. Then I come to my senses, I discover it was actually garbage. Sigh.) Although I will say this: prior to me getting sick, I was watching Frosty the Snowman, and I came up with a really good idea for a middle grade fantasy that I think I'm going to work on once the revision of ParkerBoy is done.

Anyway.

I have a lot of films and books I can update you on. Forgive me for not providing the linkage today--just don't have it in me. But I can at least write about what I've been doing.

Sick

And I don't feel well enough to even type. Hopefully tomorrow improves.

Chronicles of Old Men

Watched two movies yesterday: No Country for Old Men and Prince Caspian. Ah, the advantages of being sick for a day. No Country came first, and it was a case of me having slightly different expectations than what I actually got. I was expecting something a little more main stream, and I got something a little more artsy. Basically the difference between being spoon fed information and having to work to figure things out on your own. I really enjoyed the film--fantastic acting, and really meaty material. It makes me want to read McCarthy's book and see how the adaptation worked. I think I'll have to do that, when I get the chance. In any case, the film was brutal, and not exactly uplifting, but it had an interesting theme and captivating plot. Three and a half stars.

Caspian was a bit of a let down, really. I'd heard it was a bit better than Wardrobe, but I found it a bit worse. The focus was taken away from the characters and forced onto the action scenes, like it was trying to be Return of the King and just not quite getting there. Don't get me wrong--I enjoyed the movie. Great action scenes, and fantastic fantasy. But it didn't have the wonder of the first movie going for it, and it didn't have me caring about the characters. Three stars.

These two movies made me think more about characterization, though. What is it about a character that makes us root for him or her, even if we've only known them for a short time? Take Caspian, for instance. I never managed to get behind him as a character in the film. He didn't do anything really annoying, and he definitely did some heroic things, but in the end, I didn't really care. He was kind of bratty at times, argued with Peter too much, and . . . just failed to connect with me. On the other hand, Llewellyn in No Country is a character who comes across two million in cash, takes it and then tries to run away from a killer for the rest of the movie. And yet I was rooting for him almost from the beginning. Why? Well, for one thing, the introduction to him was well done. He's hunting, and he misses. You can tell he's competent, though. He's methodical, and he thinks things through. So he's not stupid. But all of that wouldn't have gotten me behind him. He comes across a mass murder scene (where the money is), and finds one last man alive--the man asks for water, but Llewellyn doesn't have any and tells him so. Then he takes the money and leaves the wounded man in the desert. What gets me behind him is that later that night, he's still thinking of the man, and he ends up filling a jug with water and taking it to him. So right from the beginning, I see him as a competent man who's not above taking a large sum of money he's not necessarily owed, but also a person who is willing to risk himself for others. And that's enough to get me rooting for him. It helps that the villain is as evil as can be--so anything in comparison is better--but without that taking-water-to-the-thirsty-man, I don't think I would have liked Llewellyn as much.

So what do I learn? Make your characters competent and sympathetic. Pure heroism isn't enough.

In other news, TRC is at work with me today. We're going to see Bolt soon, but I think he's having a good day, all told. It was his idea. Go figure. :-)

Sick and Twitter

Staying home sick today. The holidays have a tendency to wear me out--so I'm doing my best to fight that. Stayed in bed all morning reading Stephen King's Duma Key, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Now I'm going to watch No Country for Old Men--I'll tell you how it is later.

In other news, I'm trying out Twitter, a site that lets you provide frequent, tiny updates on your life. More immediate than a blog, but less thorough. Anyway--if any of you would like to follow me there, here's the link:

Follow me on Twitter.

Snow Blowers

Woke up this morning to a whole boat load of snow outside. Probably 15 inches most places, with drifts over two feet. Oh--and school wasn't delayed. (Don't get me started on that--you'll be hearing me grumbling for the next two years.) Last year, I don't think my snow solution (plowing with a lawn tractor) could have handled that. This year, the ol' snow blower went to work. That thing's a monster--I finished the job in less than half an hour. Very pleased with it. Of course, when all the snow's blowing back in your face in 40 mph winds, and the temperature's around 0, "very pleased" is a relative term. But I wasn't cursing the snow blower. No--just the people who decided to not at least give me a delayed start to the day.

But I'm not going to grumble about that anymore.

Watched BYU lose to Arizona State in basketball and Arizona in football over the weekend. Don't get me started on that, either.

In the "good news" category, I had a very pleasant and productive weekend. Thanks for wondering.

Revision

So I'm in a bit of a quandary. I'm working on the revision, and I have to decide primarily what to do with the beginning. Almost all of the comments I got focused on the first chapter or so, with most saying it was too slow. So what's the debate? Well, it's do I trim it, or cut it altogether? I'm going to try to work this out on screen as I type--we'll see where it goes.

When facing a decision like this, the first question I have to ask myself is what exactly is the first chapter accomplishing? For those of you who haven't read it, it basically introduces the main character (Parker), his love interest (Jess) and some minor characters. Parker intros his job at McDonald's, has a conflict with a customer--that sort of thing. THe chapter establishes a couple of goals for Parker, and hints at larger conflicts to come. We get an overview of Parker's pop culture fixations--that sort of thing.

So what is there that needs to be there? The more I look at it, the more I'm thinking: not much. Some of the McDonald's stuff is interesting, but nothing there really relates to the rest of the story. I can still intro Parker and Jess in chapter 2, and I get to the real conflict faster that way, too. In fact, the more I think about it, the less I think chapter 1 needs to exist.

So my question for those of you who have read it: do YOU think it needs to exist? Please speak up--the beginning is one of the most important parts of a book, and I need this to get off on the right foot.

Apology

Sorry I haven't posted today. Craziness at work, none of which I really feel like I can post about. But I still have a job, so that's something--and that's all I'm going to post about that. I've been working on a family newsletter, some of which I'll try to post when I get a chance. Not much else to report personally--just been busy.

An Awesome Movie

I finally had the chance to watch Tim Burton's take on Sweeney Todd last night, and whoo-ee did I enjoy it. Really just a smash bang job, in my opinion. I was very favorably surprised by Depp's singing, not to mention Bonham Carter. (Alan Rickman's vocal chops were a tad disappointing, though.) The movie does a tremendous job of taking a musical and turning it into a film--something that many musical adaptations don't do. They basically turn it into a film version of the musical. It's hard for me to pinpoint the difference, but if you watch the film, maybe you'll see. There are no real extravagant dance numbers, no chorus lines, no . . . fluff. It's a film where the dialogue happens to be sung to a score that's fantastic. This is a four star movie for me--right up my alley.

But should you see it?

I know that's what a lot of my readers are wondering. You love Sondheim, and you love the musical, but you've heard this movie is graphic and bloody, and you're hesitant to plop yourself down in the seat for it. Well, let me answer that question for you.

It's just as bloody as you've heard. Probably more so, actually. There are 12 on-screen deaths, most of them with full on, blood-spurting-from-the-neck details. (Just to switch things up a bit, Burton did let us see a person getting burned alive, too. He's nice like that.) Folks, anytime you have Burton and Depp doing an adaptation of a musical about a barber who slits peoples' throats and then turns them into meat pies, you're going to have some blood. Well, lots of blood. But that's in the Broadway version, too.

The difference between this film and the filmed Broadway version is that everything's close up. We see actual acting--not Broadway acting. We see actual violence--not Broadway generalities. This is a brutal, disturbing movie, but so's the musical. Know what you're getting into before you watch it.

That said, there are no real surprise bloody moments in this movie. You know when the blood's going to come, and you have plenty of time to close your eyes and not see it. This would be an easy film to self-censor. Just close your eyes for the first few deaths, and then close your eyes for the last eighth of the movie (gets really grisly there). You'll still be able to hear the music. Just remember--the prettier the music becomes, the more grisly the film gets. Thanks, Sondheim. Now--can I have a Burton/Depp/Sondheim Into the Woods? Pretty please? Depp could be the baker, the wolf, and maybe a prince or two. Awesome.

More Snow on the Way Tonight

Good thing I have my snowblower ready. Something tells me they won't be canceling tomorrow. Such is life. I'd like to publicly state that my wife and I have been working very diligently at trying to bring the economy back to order single-handedly this Christmas. So if you see any upticks in the reports on how our nation is doing, I take full credit.

Still not particularly feeling like posting, though. Just too much not-fun stuff going on. Thank goodness it's the holidays, or I'd probably really be in a funk.

I have a headache

And I don't think any amount of blogging is going to make it go away. Oh well. I'm having a downer of a day, so I think I need to post some positives:

• All my Christmas shopping is done
• I almost have the family newsletter finished
• The ice is melting from my driveway
• I get to go home in 40 minutes
• I have no meetings on tonight
• My sound system is now fully operational

Probably the highlight of my day came this morning, when my good friend Becky "Rebecca" Garabed sent me her comments on ParkerBoy. A lot of my readers have noted that I reference a lot of pop culture in my books. Some like it, some don't. Some say that the pop culture I use is too dated (then miss all the current pop references because they go right over their heads.) So I take all those comments with a few grains of salt. But Becky--she went above and beyond the call of duty, going through the entire book and documenting every single pop culture reference, then putting in when that pop culture reference first appeared in pop culture. From Rambo to Perry Mason to Star Wars to Lord of the Rings--she got 'em all. I felt like my pop culture personality was laid bare--way cool. Thanks, Becky!

Victory!

Four hours more, and I successfully completed the sound system install. And I saw that it was good. Stayed up past midnight watching Iron Man on my setup at last. Sweet. Nothing but positive things to say about my home theater rig. I think I'm finally at the point where I'd rather see a movie on my home theater than going to the real theater to see it. Well, for 95% of what's out there, anyway. And for the 5% remaining stuff, it's a crap shoot whether or not I'll have a good experience at the theater. I mean, you never know if the noisy person, the kid who kicks your seat, or the cell phone talker's going to be there or not, you know? At home, I have complete control. Me likes it.

And I got a half day today, which is also good--seeing as how otherwise I would have only had all of 5 hours of sleep. :-) Now I just have to decide if it's worth it to shovel my driveway when I get home. It's going to totally freeze tonight, but if it's shoveled, then it'll freeze to a slick sheet of ice. If it's not shoveled, it'll freeze to a tire track-riddled sheet of ice, which at least gives me some traction . . . we'll see. Any suggestions?

The Saga Continues

We're now into day three of my Epic Quest to Get Surround Sound in my house. Will I succeed? The suspense is killing me. Actually, I'd probably be done already if I hadn't had a three hour church meeting in the evening yesterday. The sacrifices I make for religion. But tonight . . . I have a good feeling about tonight. It might be because I'm hoping work is canceled tomorrow due to inclement weather. It might be because I'm gearing up to do the final rewrite of ParkerBoy. Or it might be because I'll finally get the sound system working. Who knows?

When Installing a Surround Sound System . . .

Make sure to give yourself more than five hours. Especially when you're watching a four year old and a ten month old. I've got the speakers mounted, but the wiring was just too hideous. Tonight, I'm going to try drilling through some walls. That should be exciting . . .

It certainly was a frustrating evening yesterday, but maybe tonight will be the night. Or tomorrow.

Or the day after.

Get Your Drillbits Ready

My surround sound system is waiting for me at home. If I'm successful in the install, I'll be able to watch my Netflix Iron Man blu-ray this evening in all its 1080p glory, now with its proper 7.1 TrueHD sound. Of course, that's just if everything goes well. We're talking eight speakers to set up (four of which have to be wall mounted, and speaker wire has to be snaked all over creation in a way that disguises it as best as possible), six components to set up (VHS, region-free DVD, Blu-Ray, PS2, Wii, Dish Network Box) and the sound to calibrate (something which is supposedly easy to do with an Onkyo system . . . but I've heard that promise before). Something tells me that it'll end up being a frustrating experience, but then again, if it were easy, would I enjoy it as much once I finally had it all set up right?

Probably.

Oh well. DKC should be happy--if I get this set up the way it should be, figuring out what button to push so she can watch what she wants to watch should be easier. Then again, it'll also be drastically different, so maybe it'll still end up being frustrating for her. She's a good sport to even be letting me do this. I wonder if she'll still be a good sport once she sees the wires.

:-)

Late Post

Sorry for the late post today. And I don't even have a good excuse. I stayed home from work to go skiing--but then it was 0 degrees outside. -16 with the wind chill. DKC and I were planning on taking TRC for his first ski experience, and we just didn't think that his first time should be in sub-zero temperatures. The goal is to get him to go again, after all. So we stayed home, made pancakes and brownies and went and bought a live Christmas tree for the entryway. I have no idea how much trees are elsewhere, but we got a nice five footer for fifteen bucks, which I felt very happy with. Didn't need a taller one--we were looking for something very specific.

My surround sound system was supposed to come today. According to FedEx, it's still supposed to come. But something tells me it won't. Maybe it's the fact that on the tracking page, it still hasn't been confirmed as having left California. Something smells fishy . . . Sigh.

Watched Tropic Thunder over the weekend, which I enjoyed. Very nice roast of Hollywood, with great performances by all involved. Of course, it's also tremendously bloody and full of less than favorable language. Not for the faint of heart. Still, if that doesn't turn you off right there, you've got a three star experience waiting for you. Seeing Robert Downey, Jr. do blackface is pretty much worth it alone. Tom Cruise making fun of himself is just icing.

Heist Movies and Naughty Protagonists

I watched Ocean's Thirteen last night, and it got me thinking. Why is it that I like watching people break the law so much in these movies? The Ocean series, The Sting, The Italian Job (and the original), The Thomas Crown Affair (and the original), Catch Me If You Can . . . it's a genre I really like, and it's remarkable how quickly I start rooting for the protagonists, even though they all end up doing things that I find morally objectionable. And when you look at the movies for a moment, you figure out why. In each case, the protagonists are essentially good people who are just doing things to Fight the System. Ocean doesn't steal from little old grannies--he steals from big wig casino owners. And not just casino owners--morally reprehensible casino owners. And in the case of the first film, he's not just stealing for profit, he's stealing to win back the heart of the woman he loves. In the Sting, Redford is portrayed at first as a two-bit con artist who doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot of harm. But then his partner is killed, which justifies the grand theft that ensues.

What do I learn from this? Well, I learn that protagonists are appealing not just by their characteristics, but also by their conflicts. Let's look at it from the reverse. Hannibal Lecter is refined and cultured, by all appearances a model of society. He just happens to kill people and eat their organs, and for that, he becomes one of the most cited examples of terrible villains in recent film history. (Well, that and ripping off a guy's face and using it as a mask, but let's not quibble here.) What I mean is that you can have a very nice protagonist, but if that protagonist is doing the most evil in the book, then people won't like him or her. But if you have them doing evil--but not as much evil as someone else in the plot--you can still have your audience like them.

An example where this fell apart for me is in the remake of Stallone remake of Get Carter. It's a movie where Stallone goes through doing reprehensible things, one after another, that are easily as reprehensible as the actions the "villains" did to him, with the only difference that the villains did them first. The same is true of Mel Gibson's Payback, a movie I could never really get into, just because I couldn't quite bring myself to root for the protagonist.

I remember talking with Brandon Sanderson when he was just starting the Mistborn series. He wanted to write a fantasy book that was fun in the same vein as heist movies were fun. So he had his protagonists be fighting against an evil empire and an immortal dictator. It works--his series is fantastic.

Can anyone think of other examples of this? Or better yet, of examples where this isn't the case? Have you seen or read anything that has a protagonist who is truly evil or wicked or whatever, yet you still really rooted for him or her anyway? Maybe I'm just unique in this--I'd like to hear what other people have to say.

Success

The refinance went through. Better yet, because the bank had a 24 hour decision guarantee (and they took something like 28 hours), I'm supposedly going to get $500. So I'm getting paid to refinance my home. Nice. Headache, gone. :-)

Last night, we put up about half of the Christmas decorations. TRC has been extremely excited for December and Christmas, and it's been really fun to watch him enjoy it so much. He just loved sitting there by the tree last night and looking at the lights. He said, "I like how when you close your eyes really small, it makes all sorts of lines," which is something I remembered doing a lot when I was a kid, too.

One tradition that we do in our family that he looks forward to a lot is the Advent Calendar. When I was growing up, my mom had an Advent calendar that consisted of a fabric Christmas tree and a series of ornaments. Each day in December, one of us would get to take an ornament and hang it on the fabric tree. We really looked forward to it. I don't have that calendar, but I've kept the tradition in my own way. We have a little box with 24 drawers, each about the size of one or two matchbox cars. Each year, we spend $24 filling up the drawers with little presents for each other, and then we all take turns opening them day by day. TRC went first, and he got a little remote control car. I got a box of tic tacs, DKC got a Rittersport Marzipan chocolate, and then TRC got some bubblegum yesterday (DC will start her turns next year). Nothing really extravagant, but it makes the holidays that much more fun, and TRC absolutely loves it.

In other news, DKC and I watched Ocean's Thirteen last night, and we really enjoyed it. Still not as good as the original, but I love a good heist movie. You can tell that Clooney, Pitt and the gang are all enjoying themselves, and it's fun to watch it and see what happens next, even if the plot got a wee bit convoluted from time to time. Three stars. This has led me to think about protagonists, and I'll talk about my ideas in a different post. Be back in a sec.

Headache

One nasty side effect of having too much to do? I've got a bad headache right now. No fun at all. Then again, it might have something to do with the fact that I'm still sick. Stupid blocked sinuses. It also might have to do with the fact that the 24 hour notification period for my loan refinance has come and gone--and no news still. So much for the guarantee . . .

Refinancing Extravaganza

Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I've not only been trying to catch up with all my work this week, but I've also been trying to refinance my mortgage. That's applied for now, and if it goes through, my rate goes down 1.375%, which would please me greatly, and would make all this effort very worthwhile. If, of course, that doesn't go through, I shall be bitter. Which happens more than I'd like, these days. This whole economy thing stinks, plain and simple.

Which is why it's good I have Netflix. Watched Cloverfield last night, and I was really impressed. If you can get through the first third, which is a whole lot of shaky cam that tries to ground the story in the "real" as much as possible, then you'll be totally set for a great last two thirds of the movie. I really enjoyed how they took the Godzilla standard movie and brought it into the everyday life. How would it affect people? Sure, they use some gimmicks, and the shaky cam footage can get a tad old, but it was well worth it, nonetheless. 3 and a half stars. You really ought to check it out. Was much scarier than I anticipated it being, too. A tad Blair Witchy, but I liked it more than Blair Witch (which wouldn't be too hard--that wasn't one of my favorite movies).

1,001 Things to Do

I know I haven't posted in a while. I got sick over Thanksgiving (again), and I've really been out of it. I apologize. What's worse: I can't really do a quality post today, either. I'm just too busy at work and at home. Leave for a week, and a lot of stuff backs up on you. Hopefully I get some more time tomorrow, and I can start getting everything back up to speed. Till then, I'm diving back in. See ya!