Maggie’s Blog

Oh my word. I think Wall-E, the new Pixar/(Disney?) movie, is just about the cutest movie I’ve ever seen in my whole life. Ever. Granted, it could be my time of the month when everything strikes me as particularly adorable and touching, but my eyes leaked through the whole movie. Not crying, just leaking–the perpetual watery-eyed “OH MY WORD THAT IS SOOOOOOOOO CUTE!”

Even Andy thought it was adorable. We plan on buying the DVD when it comes out.

Not only was it cute, but it was well plotted, with great characters (Eve is hilarious – Bad temper, anyone?), great dialogue between the robots (which is minimal, save for electronic vocalizations of each others names–it’s amazing how much you can communicate with that and physical gestures alone!), and on top of that, it had some very interesting sub-themes to think about without being preachy at all (which is amazing at a time when Hollywood seems to have to jam environmentalism (which I even agree with!) down everyone’s throats vaguely disguised as “fiction” – The Happening, anyone?). Granted, as a fan of robots in fantasy and SF, and having written a ton of robot characters myself, I personally have a soft spot for unspeaking robots. Clicks, whirs, shrugs, all that stuff is just so much stronger as a communication platform (in my opinion), not to say that Asimov didn’t do a marvelous job with his robots, or Philip K. Dick with his Nexus 6. I just like the slightly more rustic, moderately humanoid, silent (language wise) robots, slightly verdigised or rusted, simple but with big mind and big hearts.

So naturally, Wall-E played right into my heart.

I am SO going to make a life-sized felt Wall-E, because I wanted to hug him through the whole movie (just imagine me squeaking quietly to myself: I’ll hold your hand, Wall-E!!!), but couldn’t… because it was a movie. Well! I’m planning a life-sized Wall-E so I can hug him whenever I like. I may also do an Eve, but I haven’t quite decided on that yet. Hey, I can go small, why not large?

Had lunch with Kelly today! Hooray! ^_^ It was good fun, and I totally got those delicious habanero chicken wings. Mmmm! They are so deliciously awesome and insanely, evilly hot! Oh, but so good!

After that, I came back here and FINALLY got some writing done. 2,000 words on Chapter 3! Hooray! Obviously far from perfect, but it touches on some key things I want to put in there, and it brings out a little more about Marha and Keon both. Working on finishing that up sometime this weekend.

Also got two critters reviews done! Hip-hip-hooray! That means I’m only 4+ short of pulling my average up so my own stuff can go out! Now if only I’d edit something enough to put up in the queue…

Had left-overs for dinner and watched Blade Runner. It sucked. I’ve read the book it’s based on (Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep), and the book was very good. Not my absolute favorite, but it was well executed and made one think. The movie, though, was just bad. It doesn’t follow the book plot at all, to it’s own peril. I still don’t know where the unicorn came from. Also, Roy’s head doesn’t match his body–he looks like he should be lean and ripped, but actually, he has a grandfather body. It’s… kind of creepy–in the not intending to be, kind of way. Especially when he wears those high-cut pants. Ugh.

Unfortunately for them, the worst part about the film was Harrison Ford’s acting. To think he made this between Raiders of the Lost Arch and Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back. We both got really tired of him making his “surprised” face about half-way through the film. After that, we just gave up and started trying to talk our way through. Unfortunately again, unlike Terminator, it’s not a film that sets itself up for really witty viewer comments. So it ends up just being dull.

Here, so far, is our list of WORST MOVIES EVER111!!!

1. The Happening

2. Curb Your Enthusiasm (TV series – so technically, not a movie, but still, it sucked.)

3. The Wild

4. Buckaroo Bonzai (this is our gage for sucky movies)

5. Blade Runner

So there you go, the running list of movies that truly suck. If you want to save your time and money, don’t ever bother to rent any of these. Unless your a masochist, in which case, knock yourself out.

So a brief overview of the past few days, eh?

MONDAY

Lots of odds and ends. Did dishes almost all day. Admired the thunderstorms. Andy brought home the first disk of season one of Stargate SG-1, and we watched the pilot. We were not amused. Andy says decisively: “It sucked.”

TUESDAY

Set up a financial tracking system on my computer, which is really nice to have, but also very depressing. It’s painful to see how much we owe in loans (just for me!). Then we went to the bank, and then did grocery shopping.

Which meant I could actually try a new Orange Chicken recipe from Cook’s Illustrated. Well, it’s not exactly “new”–my mom has made it for the family before, but I’ve never tried it on my own. So! I decided to give it a try, and here are the results:

It was goooooood! ^_^ And spicy, too!

Then Andy and I watched the first aired episode of Stargate SG-1, and were slightly more amused than when we watched the pilot.

WEDNESDAY

Today, we did many things. First, we went and saw Get Smart, which was fantastic! It’s the first movie since Lars and the Real Girl that we actually didn’t regret spending money to see. The film got off to a slightly rough start, not for any fault of the film itself, but because the movie theater was having difficulties getting both picture AND sound to work. Thanks AMC. But they fixed it pretty quick, so that was good. It was a fun movie–the only thing we could think to criticize was the choice of Madonna/Justin Timberlake’s awful new song as part of the sound track. Blech. But otherwise, the film was fun on a bun!

Then we picked up packing paper for his mum, grabbed an accordion folder for finances (which we actually did BEFORE the movie, because we had time to kill), and we finally got Andy some new clothes, because he doesn’t have too many. We also need to do laundry sometime… ^_^

Then we went over to Mom (Slater)’s house for a cook-out. First, however, we had to take pictures of things to sell on Craigslist (Piano, anyone?), and then we polished a silver tea tray with two tea pots, a creamer, and a sugar dish. It was much more work than we anticipated getting all that tarnish off. We have both decidedly chosen NOT to own silver in the future. ^_- Then we had hotdogs, hamburgers, and sausage for dinner which was yummy, and then Andy got his butt served to him in a seven game series of Brawl against his bro John (John was Donkey Kong; Andy was Ike).

After that, Andy and I headed home to watch Hot Fuzz which we’d gotten in the mail (Netflix rox!). The movie was often interrupted by random phone calls, first from Andy’s bro trying to get a ride to a friend’s house (even though Andy would have to drive all the way over back to his house and THEN to the friend’s house, and THEN back here) until that got straightened out, and then from my mom while they stood in line at Disneyland in California. Those butts. They had a “fast pass” for some Screaming Rollercoaster, but they had time to kill, so they figured they’d wait in line and go once and then if they liked it, they’d use their pass to go back almost immediately.

Eventually, we got to watch Hot Fuzz, and wow! It was so much fun! I had somewhat low expectations of it, because the ads made it look so stupid, but since we had seen and liked Shaun of the Dead, we thought we’d give it a try. And it was awesome! ^_^ I haven’t had that much fun with a movie in ages. Again: a movie we could not find fault with. It was fantastic; Andy thinks it is his new favorite movie. ^_^ Good times! We’ve had a string of amazing movie luck today, so I expect we’re due for a bunch of really bad ones soon. ^_^

Also, had root beer floats, which are awesome.

TODAY

Will update about today later, when more has happened. Will be going out to lunch with a one Miss Kelly Almond, and am muchly looking forward to that. ^_^ TTFN.

So I actually bothered to make a list of all the things I need to do this week while my parents and sister are in California for her school orientation. This is proof that I actually attempted to be productive, and trust me, that’s worth something, darn it!

Of my list, I got some of the minor things done, along with the dishes, calling Harv about payment stuff, washing the dog, hijacking my parents’ Netflix list so Andy and I actually get movies _We_ want to watch this week, made the bed, did Lesson 9 of Swiss German, planned out what Andy and I are going to eat for the rest of the week. Plenty of stuff. So why do I still feel so unproductive? Because I didn’t do any writing. Again. This is getting to be a very bad habit of mine–procrastination/laziness has adeptly bumped itself up into first-place in the rankings of my greatest personal weaknesses. It’s got a mind of it’s own, it has! Example:

Wouldn’t it just be easier to watch TV?

I don’t _feel_ like writing.

I can’t think straight about this story today.

It’ll be hard.

Why can’t the stories just write themselves?

I’m not 100% sure where I’m going yet, and that’ll just make more work for me later.

This next sequence is going to be boring, so why bore myself with it?

Editing sucks. I’d rather work on something new… but not that…

It’s too dark and cloudy out. I wanna take a nap.

I really should check my email. Maybe write in the blog…

*and the ever present:* I’d rather daydream about being a published author someday.

*Le sigh.* I’m very frustrated with myself. I didn’t even do any research! I have completely gutted myself of drive. All my energy is sapped. Bah, it’s terrible. And it doesn’t make me feel any better to push it all off. In fact, it makes me feel more crappy, because I feel like I wasted a day.

I need to do some critters critiques so I can actually get some of my stories up there for critiques within the next month. I _could_ edit one of them and put it in the queue and _then_ work to bring up my percentage, but that would require actually doing writing, wouldn’t it? XP

I’m so annoying to myself sometimes.

*sloughs off to make a half-hearted attempt at being productive*

EDIT: Did get a Critters done! Yay for being slightly productive! ^_^

“Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam… And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva…” –The Princess Bride

That’s right! You lucky folks who actually check this blog for all the lastest up-to-date (sort of) Maggie news, you heard it here first (sort of!)…..

I am now officially a Slater.

And to make up for the fact that facebook/myspace/etc. were all informed first, rather than here, I’ve made special arrangements for you and only you to have the first sneak peaks of the snap shots of the ceremony! (more…)

Andy finally got some time to photograph the hair! ^_^

Writing Stuff:

So-! Reread Chapter 3, added 1,000 words (~2 pgs) and at the end of it all, I realized that the entire premise for the setting of the chapter was completely improbable. Chapter 3 gets the ax, and some serious reconceptualization. Luckily, I did have time today to just think about what I now know about Chapter 3, and I think I’ve got a good way to fix everything that was wrong with it (even more than just the pacing). So hurray!

I’m really liking this freedom to write whole chapters and then at the last minute decide to ax the whole thing because it isn’t quite what I was hoping it would be. It both appeals to my perfectionist side, and simultaneously still gets stuff done. Chapter 1 met my expectations, did what it needed to, and I generally enjoyed writing it. Chapter 2 surpassed my expectations, made me smile, and accomplished a great deal. Now that I’ve run through a trial of Chapter 3, found out the issues that need to be addressed–really–in the composition, and today reconceptualized the chapter and figured out what I’m going to do, I think Chapter 3 is shaping up to be *hopefully* even better than Chapter 2. If I can continue on this development, by Chapter 20, it should be fantastic! ^_^ Haha! If only, right? At any rate, I’m having a great time with it, and the fact is, I’m moving forward. Slowly, yes, but I’m happy with results so far. And that’s not horrible! ^_^

Okay, I’m done.

Wow.

You know, I’ve been really supportive. Even when everyone else says he sucks, I’ve tried really hard to argue his side. But… Wow.

Suckage has reached a brand new level.

I am…still shell-shocked by the sheer degree of suckage.

I could say more, but I won’t. I want to salvage what little I can of this day. We’re doing fireworks later, so that’ll be fun. I need to see something explode.

On the plus side, watching this movie made me feel infinitely better about my “functional” chapter 3 that I wrote this morning. At least I can write dialog.

My sister graduated from high school today! It was very hot, and very sunny, and despite my foresight which suggested I put on sunscreen, I got burnt. Bah. At least not on my face. My knees are bright red, though, and you can tell where I crossed them when I sat. :-/

But I did see a bunch of peeps! Like Hannah!! YAY!! ^_^ And Suzy too! Huzzah!! ^_^ There were a number of people from my grade actually, who have siblings in the class of ‘08. I saw Danielle briefly, and Jen Edmonds, and Bobby Armfield. I think those were the only people from ‘04 I saw, but if I saw you and didn’t mention you–(if you even read this, which I doubt)–I do apologize. It’ll be up to you to make a stronger impression on me next time. ^_-

Came home, ate yummy food and rum cake (Mmm! But why is all the rum cake gone?), and then took it easy for the rest of the day. That was very nice. Did some cartooning, too–playing around with style a bit, and inking/shading with a Bic pen. ^_^ I generally like the results. Could be fun, if only I had a comic story to illustrate from time to time. *shrugs* Ah well. Maybe someday.

Watched Hear No Evil, See No Evil, which was pretty darn funny. I’m hoping to go see The Happening tomorrow, whether or not it’s any good. I feel bad that for some reason the media has really turned against Shyamalan, because yes, all though his last series of movies since Signs have all been less than perfect, I do give him credit for being one of the few people in Hollywood with any original ideas. And most of the movies lately have sucked big time, so frankly, I don’t think Hollywood has any right to say anyone else’s movies stink. (That does not excuse the fact that Lady in the Water had about ten-too-many characters, which diluted the plot, took attention away from the core stuggle, and that Shyamalan gave himself too big a part (if we’re going for the Hitchcock thing, I’m fine with that, but don’t spend half an hour on yourself–you’re an OK actor, Shyamalan, but you’re not great. Stick to the writing and directing, and take only the small parts for yourself. One line, two tops. It makes us feel like you’re not just writing movies to give yourself major parts)).

And that’s my mini-rant! Enjoy! ^_^

It was a strange day today. Overall, it did not feel very productive. I did manage to get some minor editing done on “A Small Sample of Earth” which was good, though I still need to cut it down by a third if I want it to be even seriously considered for any children’s magazine. Bah! But anyway.

The day turned weird about 3:30 p.m. I was listening to my iPod out on the front porch, doing some serious thinking about Chapter Three and what is going to happen/needs to happen, etc. So while I was laying there on the porch swing, out from under our porch comes this fluffy black cat. It strolled along our little front flagstone path (which is overrun by irises at the moment) and settled itself at the end by the blue spruce. Now, don’t get me wrong here, I love cats. HOWEVER, I do not love strange cats lurking around near our bird feeder. We have managed to lure in a large variety of birds to this bird feeder, and they are all comfortable with us sitting on the porch, chatting, and watching them. There is a family of finches–a father and two hatchlings–that stopped by last Saturday. The two younger birds were just chirping and chirping, following their dad around (with some finches, once the babies are hatched, the mother bird goes off to lay a second brood, while the father takes over raising the babies), testing out their wings. They were adorable. SO, I am very protective of our bird feeder. Plus, it pisses me off when house cats (which is what I took this cat to be, since there are a lot of people with cats in this area) go around killing things, even though they’re well fed. I don’t care if it’s their instinct. They can hunt for birds elsewhere. Not on my property. I didn’t like it when our own cats did that, so a strange, uninvited cat is NOT welcome.

So I get up and walk over to where the cat has just laid down. I figure, I’m making a lot of noise, I’m rattling the plants, it should skedaddle pretty fast. This cat does not. It creeps under the spruce and mewls at me. I shake the spruce. It doesn’t move. It’s giving me a look that I associate with cat arrogance–you know that, “I don’t like you, and I don’t have to do anything you say,” kind of look–so I think, fine. You want to make this war? Fine. I’ve got the big guns. I shake the tree a little more, because I don’t want to take this next step, but darn it if the cat just glares at me. Doesn’t budge an inch. (more…)

Today was slightly less productive than yesterday, but somehow I feel like I’ve done more. The day has felt longer, which is nice. Because sometimes, on these summer days (since I can’t get a real job, due to all the time off I’d need, and oh yeah! the moving thing), there are times when I feel like the day just flew by. Like I just got out of bed and then I’m going to sleep.

Anyway, today didn’t feel like that. I got a lot of walking in, actually- or, I thought I had, but now that I look at my steps counter, it doesn’t seem so spectacular. Bummer. Oh well. Somehow, I don’t feel like I just got up. Moving on!

Got caught up on a lot of my correspondences, sending emails to people I should have emailed months ago, and I did Lesson 5 of Swiss German, which was good though confusing! ^_^ At least now I know how to say “Take a right, then a left.” when giving directions. Didn’t do any writing, though I did reread Chapter 2 (which I mentioned earlier) and did some minor editing before shipping it out to this round’s trial readers. Thanks again guys (whether you’ve read it or not)! I know everyone’s really busy, but it makes me feel more sturdy on my rough-draft feet.

Probably the most productive thing I did today was to go through a huge bag stuffed with all my 5th grade papers. My mom hauled it down from the attic. I’ve gone through almost five or six of these bags (from various grades) over this summer, so I wasn’t terribly excited about going through yet another one.

However, I found some interesting stuff. Besides old plays and stories I’d written (or started), I found the pop-up book I made, along with the lyrics for the Mr. Dendrite song (from our Nervous System project), besides a bunch of other stuff. I did find two things that I think hold more importance than I realized at the time. (more…)