Status: 21 Feb 2023

My dad passed away in 2019. Today would have been his birthday. The stretch from Feb 21 to March 19, the anniversary of his death, is one of the rocky parts of my year. Started writing a new short story yesterday, tackling an idea I’ve wanted to write for nearly a decade now.

ON THE TO DO LIST TODAY

1. Add 700+ words to my current work in progress
2. Upload Eclectic Projects 002 to distributor sites.
3. Edit the essay for Eclectic Projects 003 (holdover from yesterday).
4. Deliver a mentee session this afternoon.
5. Head off to dinner with the fam, who are similarly sad today.

PETER M. BALL INBOX: 43

BRAIN JAR INBOX: 24

BRAIN JAR SUBMISSION QUEUE: 15

Expect minimal movement on all of these this week.

CURRENTLY WATCHING: CARNIVAL ROW, SEASON TWO

Four years after season one, Amazon Prime has brought back their steampunk fey noir series Carnival Row to finish the story. It’s pretty much certain we’re not getting a third season at this stage, which makes me furious because it’s one of the more ambitious fantasy works on screen in terms of world building.

I didn’t expect to care about the show this much. The opening episodes of 2019’s first season weren’t the strongest, courtesy of their sheer amount of detail they were trying to put on the screen and other creative choices: the character names originally felt absurd; Orlando Bloom also felt like the oddest choice for the hard-as-nails, gravel-voiced police inspector who takes the role of central protagonist; the early episodes use gratuitous sex like they’re recreating the first season of Game of Thrones.

None of that suggested an ambitious world or story, but as they laid the story out and fleshed out the details, I find myself entranced by the little things and their resolute determination that viewers would keep up instead of having every little thing explained to them. They’ve definitely found their feet with the early episodes of season two, in all the right ways. Bloom’s Rycroft Philostrate has slowly, steadily nudged away all thoughts and memories of Legolas, and I do hope someone picks on the fact he can play a hard edged protagonist capable of visceral, physical violence after this.