The Good, the Bad, the Criminally Insane

'Chele and I have been watching the new Battlestar Galactica. Apparently, it won several awards and has gotten good reviews from Time, Newsweek, and a dozen other big magazines. We're of the opinion that it's PDG. Pretty Dang Good. The acting is over-par, the writing is over-par, the special affects are about par. Overall, for a sci-fi channel thingie, it's incredible. For a prime time show, its not bad at all. I would recommend it to anyone. You don't have to be a geek to enjoy it. Of course, make sure you start off with the three hour long miniseries that prequels the series. And then on the season one. I got the miniseries and all three current seasons from my cousin.

I also passed 80,000 words in el novelo. And my Brit Lit teacher just informed the class that "novel" means "new." So there, I just passed on a grade A university education to anyone who reads this. You should be proud. I just saved you tens of thousands of dollars.

I've been reading Simon R. Green's Deathstalker series. The story is a rough blend of Star Wars and Dune and is the dramatic equivalent of a bad soap. The writing itself is bad, the flow of the story is plodding and absolutely stocked with expostulation, and the dialog is terribly contrived. Overall, the story is mildly entertaining but the writer is a hack. A teenager might greatly enjoy the grotesque plot and writing style but it lacks any real depth. If you're an amateur writer, Simon R. Green is an example of how NOT to write. Ignore the fact that the series was a bestseller. Practically, it's terribly outdated. Emotionally, please, oh please by heaven above do not write like him. There is enough bad writing in the genre.

Of course, it's hard to ignore that this stuff was a bestseller. The story obviously has some redeeming qualities. Those qualities are probably the fact that he mixed Star Wars and Dune so well. It's still hack writing, but it's fun hack writing. And the people do want that. Unfortunately.

Finally, I also procured from my cousin the first season of Dexter. Wow. It's about a psychotic serial killer who works for the cops as a blood analyst. In his secret life, he kills the people that get away from the fuzz.

It's grotesquely fascinating and extremely well done. I wouldn't recommend it for the weak stomached. Or for anyone with a sense of moral obligation. Which leaves most of the people I know. You guys can all watch it.

I'm averagely amused by the Mormon-bashing articles that keep cropping up and their targets within Mormon belief and practices. I'm not the big Mormon crusader, nor will I likely ever be, but the fact that people attack Mormons as cultists and crazies over some of our odder practices leads one to question how they missed that Catholics practice vampirism (among other things), and that Mormonism is one of the only non-stagnant religions in the world.

Of course, if you don't like religion in the first place, I can totally understand. I don't either. I was reading an excerpt online of Christopher Hitchens' God is Not Great that particularly addresses Mormonism and I was curious how, in the course of his obnoxious ranting he conveniently ignored the millions of lives the LDS church's charity efforts affect every year. I mean, even if you hate religion, you've got to respect a few things about it. You know... preaching love, giving billions of dollars worth of charity, that sort of thing.

There's a self-righteous reply to that, of course, in that religions have caused their own portion of mayhem and sorrow throughout history and should be giving back. But, um, let me point out that was then, and we're in the now. Present day. Not the last several millennium. Oh well.

So my thoughts on this do connect with writing: in the course of my own creation of worlds of myth, I do a lot of reading and I've noticed that a good portion of the religions sketched out in science fiction and fantasy tend to be grotesque caricatures of everything wrong with the medieval Catholic religion. I don't have a problem with that. It's kind of amusing. But there is a lot more potential when writing a religion into one's world than that and few enough writers take advantage of that.

Anyhow. Back to Modern Marvels on the History Channel.

I've been trying for years to expostulate on my dislike and distrust of literary writing. Dave Wolverton, who has probably been thinking about this very topic since before I was born, has a fantastic article on the matter.

Check it out. And spread it around.

I was looking over some of my word count reports and came to these conclusions about how many words I averaged a day:

June 27- September 17
280 words a day

September 17- October 24
486 words a day

October 24- Present
937 words a day

Overall, since June, I've averaged 414 words a day.

From the beginning, I estimate that I've averaged 313 words a day.

The conclusion is that I work in spurts. The second conclusion is that I am picking up momentum.

Interesting.

Broken 64,000 words now. My reward for finishing 100,000 words: I'll buy myself the next Erikson book.

Boo-ya.