(no subject)

[cleolinda]

Fantastic Four casting: The HELL? Rumor had got me expecting George Clooney and Julia Stiles, and they give us Ioan Gruffudd and Jessica Alba? (Yeah. I have no problems with Gruffudd. Besides, I'm sure there's a lot of people who'll be thrilled with that one.) But--Jessica Alba? Not that it's entirely settled yet--other candidates are Rachel MacAdams and Keri Russell, completing a triumvirate of actresses who have no physical traits in common.

P.S. We were watching the second half of Flashdance on VH1 last week, and--Jessica Alba was totally constructed from Jennifer Beals' DNA. Don't lie, you know it's true.

Working: Edited Black Ribbon chs 1-3 last night. Was dismayed by the staginess of the first chapter--you can feel me trying to tell a story, instead of just getting caught up in it. Did some word tweaking, cleaned up a few awkward/overwritten sentences, but... really, it is so not as good as I remembered it. I mean, I'm really proud of the work I did on the characters and the story/plot itself, but... yikes. I'm going to have to do some heavy editing to the ball in the second chapter, I think, because it just goes on and on and on... although theoretically it does balance out the whole crisis at the Blacks' house in the second half. But... yar, that first chapter. Still, the writing does get a bit smoother towards the end of the three chapters, and I'm editing out some of the interminable bit about the Chinese herbs.

Which brings up something I love about writing on the computer--I can't write by hand anymore, you know. Seriously, I hate taking notes in class now. I used to be a total speed demon with a mechanical pencil; I remember that, when I was younger--can't remember how much younger, but probably early teens--I hand-wrote 42 pages in one day (college rule, fronts only). But now that I write everything on a keyboard, my right hand isn't used to taking all the weight; it gets tired so easily now doing longhand now. In fact, I'm pretty sure I type faster than I write--almost faster than I think.

Which is great and all, but I remember when computers first started to take over typewriters' territory, people were pissing and moaning about how the age of rough drafts would be gone. Not that people wouldn't draft anymore, but that they would just change things on the computer and you'd have no record of the changes and woe. Apparently it never occurred to people at this time that you could just save different versions.

Which is what I do. (Hi, three paragraphs in a row beginning with "which." I'm pretty sure that's a new record.) I pick up the latest version of Black Ribbon chapter 4, which was titled something like "installment4 050304.doc," and read over the most current draft, which reflects changes made on--you got it--May 3. Then I save it as (what's today...?) "installment4 070804.doc" and go on my merry way. That way, if I stupidly delete something and decide I want it back two weeks later, I can just go through previous versions and find what I want. As far as I'm concerned, it's a system that preserves and documents drafts better than my longhand method, which was basically A Pile of Crap in a Box Lid. If you don't already use a system like this, let me highly, highly recommend it. (The dated document thing... not the Pile of Crap thing.)

So. Off to take the dogs for a quick walk, and then back to work I go.

ETA: I took the dogs outside and found a hand-written note wrapped around the front door handle:

John's Novelty Shop

Looking for those hard to find items? Call me, John Rogers, at [phone number] or beep me at [number] (beeper number). I have the following:

Pen Radios: $15.00
Radio/Flashlights: $25.00
Portable Televisions: $35.00
Mace: $20.00
Stun Guns: $50.00
First Aid Kits: $25.00

I have so many other items!!

I will personally deliver the items to your home or business!!

There's something about that specific collection of items that just cracks my shit up.

Comments

[snowking.livejournal.com]

While I am puzzled about the rest of the FF casting, Chiklis as Ben Grimm fills my heart with nerdy glee.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

i can totally relate to how you write. i'm currently working on a script for a short film, and there are points that just flow. more frequently, there are points where i'm just writing to keep the pen moving and working towards the flow.

that said, i still write by hand. part of it is ease -- my computer is an elephantine tower model that i can't lug anywhere without throwing out my back. part of it is also the effort. i can write something out completely by hand and really feel what i'm writing in my wrists and fingers, and then i can shove it in a drawer and not think about it for a few days. at that point i just write it out. a friend of mine who writes has this belief that the cut-and-paste option has been the death of good writing because no one needs to go back and reread what they've written...they can just plug the new stuff in.

[longleggedgit.livejournal.com]

I totally love Flashdance . . . it's such a classic movie! The scene with the lobster is the best. =)

[ministry-victim.livejournal.com]

Hmm... how to write this?

Have you ever wanted to say something and for some odd reason, can't seem to find the right way to say it?

I hate that.

Anyway, out of gratitude for sharing your 15M series with me, i'd like to invite you over to my journal, where i've written two vignettes, I hope you may find entertaining. So... if you're so inclined, enjoy! Oh, and they're before the Fahrenheit 9/11 post.

[missmp.livejournal.com]

The absolute worst part of writing is going back and looking at a piece after some time has passed. It's never as good as you remember it. But it's probably better than you think it is, because you see flaws that no one else will ever notice (if that makes any sense). I'm sure it'll be fantastic when you're finished.

[jennilee.livejournal.com]

I love Jessica Alba. She was amazing in Dark Angel (tv series that only had 2 seasons) Seriously, she can kick arse. And I think it's that type of movie from the picture...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I'll admit, I haven't seen her in much. I think I was more surprised that they kept saying they were going to cast this or that blonde, and up they come with Jessica Alba. What?

[jennilee.livejournal.com]

Dark Angel was definitely her glory days. (She's been in Honey (movie) recently. The best I could give it is mediocre, but it's pretty watchable) If you have time, rent the second season instead of the first season (because that's where the god that is Jensen Ackles appears).

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, just because they don't have to doesn't mean they won't. I'm honestly thinking about opening chapter one in one window and then retyping it in another window, just in hopes that I'll change things as I go along.

And I do write a little by hand when I'm away from the computer, but it's mostly a boredom/emergency thing. My handwriting has so deteriorated since I got my computer that I can barely read it anymore anyway.

Good luck with the short film, by the way. :)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Chiklis was the one they announced first--I don't know much about FF, but people seem to be pretty happy with it. It's the others that made me go "Whaaaat?"

[vees.livejournal.com]

A man with access to all those things at once is certainly one to be reckoned with.

[dietcokebreak.livejournal.com]

I would be one of the ones happy with the Gruffudd casting, although more for the whole I think he is totally hot factor as opposed to the accuracy in casting.

I used to watch FF (the cartoon) everyday after school growing up on some kind of Hanna Barbera hour thingy, but didn't Reed Richards have gray hair? Clooney might have been the way to go, but after Batman Forever, I don't know if we will see him do a comic book film again...

I need to check out your Black Ribbon site...

[palmetto.livejournal.com]

I love your icon. *_*

[cpip.livejournal.com]

I agree totally about the handwriting thing. This started happening to me in high school -- I spent more time typing than I did writing, and now if I write too much longhand -- whole pages or essays or whatnot -- it feels like my hand is cramping up... I just type it all, it works better.

I type 115 wpm. :)

[katemonkey.livejournal.com]

Okay, let's see how long we can sit in the movie before we start wondering when he's gonna bust a cap in Richards' ass.

[ex-krazycat651.livejournal.com]

Which brings up something I love about writing on the computer--I can't write by hand anymore, you know.

That is so true for me too, I type so much quicker than I write by hand, so writing by hand just pisses me off because it takes too long! Of course, that makes me try to write more quickly but that makes my hand writing even more difficult to understand.

I have no patience.

[zombiequeen.livejournal.com]

I do both longhand and typing -- but I'm so weird. I will start out writing by hand. I prefer sketchbooks to notebooks because they have no lines. And I can doodle if I get stuck.

Once I get tired of writing longhand, I will type up what I wrote (I'm yet another of the fast typists). I usually end up writing more of the story on the computer, but I will make notes in the sketchbook as I go along.

Next time I sit down to write, I draw a line across the sketchbook page and just start writing where I left off on the computer copy. But, I save the notebooks (I don't know why), so I have a giant collection of nonsensical first drafts.

And why isn't there a guy selling stun guns door-to-door in my neighborhood? I am so jealous!

[hostile17girl.livejournal.com]

IOAN!!!! *dances*

[lothos.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmm... Jessica Alba... *drools*

As Sue Storm?!?!?!?! What?! Jessica Alba in a blonde wig?! WTF?!?!

Hmmm... well, it may work...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hey, you need something? Taser? Squiggly pen? Small missile launcher? I'm sure I can get John to hook you up.

[jadarene.livejournal.com]

Hi. I was going to write a limerick about one of your pieces, but I can't figure out how I saw it or what it is anymore because LJ keeps telling me that I'm not authorized to view the entry. Which is peculiar because obviously I viewed it initially in order to be able to comment on it (I know because I have an LJ reply from you giving me permission to limerick it). So I have not written a limerick about it (though I'd guess it was likely your PoA story??). Anyway, I'm confused and I wanted to let you know why I didn't end up limericking your piece after all. Many thanks for your approval, though! :)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

All you have to do is make sure you've actually joined the community as well as friended it. After you join, give it a few minutes, maybe log in and out of LJ, and you ought to be able to read it.

[handful.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to know I'm not the only person in the world who can't STAND Jessica Alba.

Or Keri Russell, for that matter. What's wrong with Julia Stiles? That'd be awesome!

[dreagonfli.livejournal.com]

I don't write by hand anymore because I have carpal tunnel from the computer! Heh. (Years of working on registers didn't help either.) But if I sit down to actually handwrite anything, I'm numb in about three seconds. Sucks.

[jadarene.livejournal.com]

Ah; thank you! I've joined and friended and will limerick tomorrow and notify you when it's posted. I have to say, though, it remains a mystery to me how I managed to view the entry in the first place.

Also "asshattery" is a word you just don't hear often enough. :)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, I just got fed up and locked it last weekend; it was open to the public before that.

OMG..SS....RL...

[shirade.livejournal.com]

I just have to comment on your icon. It's so...whoa. My first thought was "oh, Sirius and Remus has NEVER been done." But then I saw the SS and watched it again and then it clicked and my mouth dropped. Seriously (Sirius, what??), you don't see that pairing often enough.

I love you now. You can never escape me.

Shame.

Screw actors!

[shirade.livejournal.com]

Who needs actors? Gimme the old cartoon anyday. I would pay good money to see a two-hour movie in that old cartoon style!

[anni-the-diva.livejournal.com]

...they give us... Jessica Alba?

Omigoodness, no! I actually like her, but just....no! It's just not right!!

[zombiequeen.livejournal.com]

Well, I am really looking for either a flamethrower or a death-ray, though an electric cattle prod would work in a pinch.

Is there somewhere we can go to vote for Julia Stiles?

[haleiwatown.livejournal.com]

Jessica Alba. Yuck. Don't get me wrong, she looks bloody fantastic in black lycra, but she can't act. Bee-stung lips are beautiful, yes, but I can't gaze at them too lustily knowing they're bigger than her brain.

Makes me mad.

And George Clooney is fantastic. I can't wait to see 12.

[prncssaurora.livejournal.com]

Oooh, 'triumvirate.'

That is an excellent word.

[sodafiend.livejournal.com]

Hearing casting news makes me really want to get involved with the behind-the-scenes stuff in Hollywood, because I don't know what these guys are thinking. Sure, let's have Jack Black as the Thing! Yeah, that'll be funny!
(I'm kidding, I kid, I kid.)
They're greenlighting everything these days. What's next, "New Warriors?" Who would be "Nova, the Human Rocket?" Joey Pants? Who'd be "Speedball"? "Namorita?"
I'm just happy Nick Cage will not be Superman. Forgive me for saying this, but he is a "Buttmunch". Okay, I'm not sorry.
That annoying blonde girl from "24" would be a better Sue Storm, if only because her "Ultimate" version is modeled after her.

Re: Screw actors!

[sodafiend.livejournal.com]

Damn straight.

Nothing beats the classics.

naming versions

[stavia.livejournal.com]

I'm a layout artist (I make books all day), and version control is my life. I find it sort of amusing that the EXACT WAY I name my files (today's were called, for instance, atlas frontmatter 070804.qxd and atlas spreads 070804.qxd) is what you came up with. I've been doing this for years, and it's almost ideal.

The only quibble I have with it is that once you do start doing it for years, or even if the same project spans December and January, your files don't sort alphabetically by date anymore. You get all the Julys and then all the Augusts, even if some of them are twelve months older.

If you want a piece of advice, and if (as I think you do) you have years-long projects lying around, alter the system just slightly and change the date format to YYMMDD. Like "installment4 040708.doc". That's how I have my digital photo rolls arranged, and it's just so super handy to be able to sort it by date when only a 'name' field is available.

[catinatuxsurfin.livejournal.com]

Jessica Alba, eh? Wasn't she in that Disney movie P.U.N.K.S.? Or does anyone know what I'm talking about...?

[punkiejeannien.livejournal.com]

i think it's that the first aid kit comes at the end of it all... especially those damn portable tvs, they killed my family.

[bombastic.livejournal.com]

I myself am rooting for Rachel McAdams. Up with Regina!

Mace, a pen radio, a flashlight and a first aid kit. It's the nerd jogger from hell.

[bombastic.livejournal.com]

I totally remember P.U.N.K.S. I liked it 'cause I was, like, five years old. Literally.

[saint-kat.livejournal.com]

Count me on the Ioan love. He's hot, and I'm quite curious as how he can pull off the new role as Reed. Hmm...

As for that flyer, I have this to say: Pen radios? $50 for mace? What is this guy, James Bond?

[edda.livejournal.com]

(Hi, three paragraphs in a row beginning with "which." I'm pretty sure that's a new record.)

Mine all start with "I". Because I'm such a self-centered hor. Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing.

[house-monkey.livejournal.com]

As far as I'm concerned, the less we see of Julia Stiles (in anything) the better. That said, I don't think much of Jessica Alba either, Dark Angel was such a load of bollocks.
I don't know FF at all though, so I can't offer any constructive casting suggestions.

[handful.livejournal.com]

I know I'm not in the majority as someone who actually likes Julia Stiles. But at least we agree on Alba. Dark Angel was so damned overrated.

James Cameron just needs to stop getting work.

[jadarene.livejournal.com]

Ah! That explains it then. Thank you very much. The limerick is posted, along with a link to your piece, here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/jadarene/2004/07/09/

Thank you so much for letting me limerick your work; it really made me laugh!

[agreywood.livejournal.com]

Hello! Random lurking m15m fan here. I don't know if you are aware, but there is an entire category of software designed to automate how you do your writing. Its called "version management" software. I tried looking for a freeware or shareware version for windows, but I am at work and don't have as much free time as I might like. There are some available at http://www.programmersheaven.com/zone16/cat522/ , but it seems like a lot of them are commercial (non-free) software. Anyway, I just wanted to point out that some people make stuff to make what you do easier in case you were interested in checking it out.

::resumes lurking::

Re: OMG..SS....RL...

[jadarene.livejournal.com]

Yeah? That's excellent! I love you, too. Sadly, this comment just showed up today or I would have responded sooner (what is up with LJ??). I write a lot of dirty limericks. Are you at all interested in them?

Re: OMG..SS....RL...

[shirade.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Of course!