The Day After Movie Night

I woke late this morning, allowing myself a sleep in after binge watching teen movies with my partner overnight.

It didn’t start that way. We’d kicked off with Gods of Egypt, Alex Proyas’ take on the sword-and-sandal epic fantasy, which felt an awful lot like someone’s Dungeons and Dragons game rendered on screen. The D&D player in me can usually take enjoyment from that even if the film isn’t good–God knows I have an affection for Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films for much the same reason–but things dragged as the film went on and effects budget took over from the narrative.

I also think Proyas did himself a disservice with the casting. Not just in the whitewashing, but in actors like Brian Brown and Geoffrey Rush who felt out of place. Rush can do genre—I’m a fan of his turn in Pirates of the Caribbean—but he just feels off-kilter as Ra, and disappears beneath the effects. Brian Brown is so recognisably Brian Brown that I couldn’t tell you which god he played in the film and found myself dreaming of a sword-and-sorcery remake of Breaker Morant or F/X.

This kinda ruined us for an SF movie binge, so we went teen movie instead. We re-watched Ella Enchanted, discovered an unexpected delight in Radio Rebel, and I followed it up with the Netflix’s F—The Prom, all of which were perfectly suited to the evening and took us through to the wee hours of the morning

I went to write club and wrote this week’s Notes from the Brain Jar newsletter, which figured a bunch of thoughts about writing serious stories based upon silly concepts and some additional notes on Sarah Gailey’s American Hippo is a book worth checking out for writers. I tried to avoid mentioning that Not Quite The End Of the World Just Yet is out, although I fear is snuck in while I was making another point. I have less shame about doing it here, so if you enjoy off-kilter science fiction and slipstreams stories, you could pick up a copy from the ebook purveyor of your choice.

Work on the Black Glove Widow has slowed down considerably, both because it’s a marking week and because the scene I’m writing needs more careful blocking than I’m used to doing. Also, because I’m pondering whether inverting this particular transition point may be more interesting for the story, which means thinking through the implications if a particular character wins or loses. I find myself intimidated by either option, which is often a good sign.

Right now, it’s past nine in the evening, a good three hours after I usually try to stop work for the day and spend time with my partner. My daily plan is out the window at the moment, courtesy of marking and S. being around the apartment for much of the day. There’s approximately sixty novel chapters awaiting feedback and grades, and a limited time in which to do them, which means I’m eminently distractible—in some many ways, marking is the penance you pay for the pleasures of teaching and tutoring.