What have I been up to lately?
Been a while since my last post (fics aside).
I haven't had too much fanboyishness going on, so that tends to lead to less posting.
So what have I been doing with my time?
Feel free to skim/skip any points that aren't relevant to your interests.
1) I rewatched Veronica Mars and LOST. Yeah, I know; it's what I do. Veronica Mars wasn't as eventful the second time. It's still awesome, but it has less rewatch value so...I'll probably rewatch it less. The second time around LOST, I did notice more musical variation, but there was still a lot of repitition which leads to the perception of less variety. I love "There's No Place Like Home", "Locke'd Out Again", "Hollywood and Vines", "The Tangled Web", and "Parting Words" especially. (Yes, I downloaded and/or bought the soundtracks from seasons 1-5.)
And let's just take a moment here for me to bitch about how I hate that it takes so long for TV soundtracks to be released. Hate it. Hate it, hate it, hate it!!! I think there's a fair bit of cash to be made in releasing soundtracks...and considerably less cash to be made in waiting a year. Strike while the iron is hot, dammit!
Right, back to LOST. Season 6 made a bit more sense the second time around. I could see a lot of things pointing to the afterlife reveal that I didn't pick up on before. I enjoyed the show just as much (maybe more) the second time. LOST definitely has high rewatch value so...well, I'm sure you can guess.
2) I don't know if I mentioned it at the time, but I got my Associate's Degree in English. Well, I graduated; I'm still waiting for them to mail me the oh-so-important piece of paper that says so. They gave us empty leather jackets for the degree at the graduation ceremony...because they had the ceremony before finals week. The world makes so much sense. I got my Presidential Scholar certificate, so I'm assuming the degree can't be too far behind.
I haven't got a damn clue what I'm going to do now. I ought to either be getting a second job (with more hours) or going for a four year degree. Neither of these options appeals to me. I feel very directionless lately, but also very unmotivated. It's a terrible cycle. A third option I'm pondering is getting a second Associate's Degree (possibly in Mass Comm), but again, I don't really know what that would lead to. I have no direction and I'm pretty sure I should feel bad about that, but honestly I'm just apathetic to a lot of things lately.
3) Doctor Who. I've completed Series 5. It was quite good. I loved a lot of what they did. I did see some things coming in the final two episodes (particularly the way each of them ended). I'm enjoying the new doctor quite a lot, but I do feel like something's missing.
Because you know what, I enjoyed a lot of what RTD's crew accomplished on Doctor Who. *ducks*
Don't get me wrong. Moffat is doing brilliant things (particularly with the time travel). His episodes were among my favorites in RTD's era and they're my favorites from series 5 as well. Matt Smith is really doing a great job with the role. Amy Pond is probably my second favorite companion so far. (Donna Noble ftw!) The music is amazing as usual.
And let's take a moment here to repeat how much I HATE the fact that soundtracks take so damn long to be released!!!
It's all very brilliant and I'm enjoying it a lot, but it lacks a certain special oomph. I need an episode that makes me pace around the living room for an hour afterwards trying to figure out what's coming next. Dollhouse did this to me every week. Who from series 1-4 made me do this quite a bit (not quite every week). Veronica Mars did it quite a bit. LOST probably would have done it if I had stopped for long enough periods of time. Series 5 Who hasn't quite gotten me there yet.
Part of the problem might be that my viewing of series 5 was sort of fragmented. I would download three or four episodes at a time so I could burn them to a disc and watch them, but then it would be three or four weeks before I watched again. I plan to remedy this problem soon (probably within the next week) by rewatching series 5 as a whole and seeing if it can give me that extra kick.
Again, it's brilliant. I particularly loved 'The Lodger'. I would recommend series 5 to all of my friends. I'd even recommend it to people who couldn't quite get in to earlier Who, but might be willing to give it another go. Start with series 5, it's a very plausible place to jump in. I love it a lot, but it just isn't giving me that extra spark of wow that I so desperately crave.
Also, and I think not unrelated to the missing spark, I've been left with a bit of a craving for Who series 1-4. Half the things I do make me think of a fond memory from one of the episodes. The music gets stuck in my head a lot.
And let's just keep in mind that I really, really HATE the fact that I can't get any soundtracks yet! >.<
After I rewatch series 5 I'll probably go ahead and do series 1-5 inclusive just for the hell of it. And yes, I know; it's what I do. Try and keep up.
4) I have been playing entirely too much Final Fantasy Tactics. Seriously. I've been playing more than any socially well-adjusted person should play. Which is actually sort of okay because I'm not a socially well-adjusted person and I make no such claims, but still...
I've also been watching youtube videos of FFT AI tournaments. The players design teams and then they get set up against each other, run by the game's AI system and someone keeps a running commentary. It's all quite fascinating if you're into that kind of thing.
5) Similarly, I've been watching quite a few Let's Play videos. (And even rewatching in some cases.) Mostly they're Final Fantasy games, but some Sonic as well.
6) I'm very nearly in a mood to reread the Harry Potter books again. I'm not sure yet, though. I suspect it'll happen in November if nothing else.
7 Occasionally, I'll stumble into a mood where I want to reread Lord of the Rings. I've only ever read the series once...which is actually odd for me. The problem is...I lost my big trilogy book a long time ago and I've yet to have the mood, the gumption, and the cash all at once.
8) I was almost in a rewatch Buffy mood. I had just recently acquired official DVD's of all seven seasons. I decided to watch all the speical features and commentaries...this has sated my Buffy cravings for the time being.
9) Fics. I was writing like crazy when I was in school. In all honesty, I was writing too much and it was having an affect on the few shreds that I call my life. Now I'm a little bit burnt out, truth be told. It's a shame, because I was enjoying the mood quite a lot. Fic-ing is almost as good as working on my original stuff. Not that fanfics don't require originality, but writing my own characters brings an extra spark. (Again with the sparks?) It's like fic-ing is one spark, but writing my own characters is two sparks. Or something like that. Maybe with a more applicable ratio. Fic-ing is pretty damn nice.
The one I posted up recently is one I've actually had done for a while. Just a bit of beta work and polishing is all it takes with that. (So, yes, more chapters to come, if anyone was wondering.)
I haven't written anything new in quite a little while. (Early May, right around the time school let out and my enormous apathy started setting in.) I was really enjoying an S4 Wiffy fic I was working on, but the fire just died. Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up again soon.
10) Speaking of burnt-out writing flames: my novels. I haven't really written anything new on that front in a little over a year now. This is probably a large part of why I feel directionless. I have opened the documents a few times, but not really for writing. Usually I'm trying my hand at...*gasp*...editing. This is a dreadful process.
I managed to get my mom to read the first one (after much pestilential badgering) and actually got a bit of feedback. I would try this on the twenty-or-so other people who have copies, but it would be awkward to badger non-family people. Among the feedback I got from my mom was the comment that I have a very good plot, but the rest of it is somewhat like a shell and lacking details.
This criticism is...really very valid. I do it in my fics too. Dialogue and plot points make for a lot of my writing. If I had been born in a different era, I probably could've written some fine radio drama. As it is: I lack details. I think part of the problem is that I get too caught up in watching my plot unfold and just lose the details as I go. Incorporating details as I go is kind of rough, but not too bad. Going back to stuff that's done plot-wise and adding details...this is a pain in the ass. I'm done with the plot and so I get bored very quickly. It sucks. I'll get there eventually, but blegh.
11) Music. I've been working on a massive playlist. It's purpose is to be listened to while in the process of writing...or playing video games...or reading...or just when I feel like it. Like, seriously massive. I've been building/adding to it since way back when I actually was writing new stuff in my novels. I might put the tracklist together in a text file (I've been meaning to, just in case of computer failures and what-not then I'd still have a list on my flash drive) and if I do that, I'll probably post the list up to LJ just for thoughts and opinions.
12) I kind of want to rewatch Dilbert. (BTW, there's a Dilbert animated series that ran for two seasons.) It's really great. I wish it had run longer. That's a show that really appeals to my inner cynicism without fueling it. (As opposed to things like The Daily Show, which do appeal to me, but also tend to make me hate the world. It's not necessarily by virtue of the shows themselves, but more related to just the fact that people have an overwhelming tendency to do stupid shit.) Anywho, Dilbert = awesome. I'll probably rewatch it soon.
13) Looking forward to upcoming seasons of The Legend of Neil and The Guild. I'm planning to rewatch all of Neil and S3 of The Guild. (I have 1 and 2 on DVD and frequently play them as I go to sleep at night.) The Guild S3 didn't really do as much for me as the first two, but I watched the first two all at once and S3 once a week as it was released. Fragmented viewing doesn't do me any favors. With S4, I'll probably just wait for the end and then watch them all. I'm also a bit further removed from online gaming then I was when I started watching the show. I'm not sure if that's taking a toll on my interest level or if it's just the fragmented viewing or both.
14) What's up with all the rewatches/rereads? It's what I do. Really, I find the stuff that I enjoy enough to rewatch/reread and I rewatch/reread it. I'm slow to expand my list of things, but I'm also generally content with what I have. And yeah, I'd probably enjoy some other stuff (I love LOST, even though it took forever for me to finally watch it), but I have to be in a pretty particular mood to go for anything new. It's just how I am. My favorite way to get into something is to just stumble in and love it. (i.e. Angel...which then brought me to all things Whedon.) Me getting into new stuff is like me getting into a cold swimming pool. I'm that annoying guy who's easing down one step every ten minutes and getting used to the water. I'm not a fan of jumping in unless the water's really perfect.
15) And of course everything is just a part of the amusing stage show that keeps me distracted from the boredom and indifference that make up those few shreds I call my life.
16) Have I mentioned how much I hate the fact that I can't get soundtracks from recently aired (or in some cases, semi-recently aired) TV shows. Tracks I want:
The action-y theme from Doctor Who series 5. If you've seen it, you probably know the one I mean. I adore "All the Strange, Strange Creatures", but this one might just surpass it.
The variation of "AtSSC" that was used in The End of Time.
The regeneration theme from The End of Time. (Commonly called "Vale Dicem" on Youtube.)
The bit where the Master saved the Doctor in The End of Time. (I've seen a few names for it: "You Made Me", "The Requiem of Rassilon", etc.)
That dramatic slow one from The Waters of Mars (I've seen it called "The TimeLord Victorious".)
The new Doctor Who theme tune for 2010.
This one (referred to here as Amy Pond's theme).
Richard's theme from LOST.
In fact, most of the music from Ab Aeterno.
And Across the Sea.
And The End.
I'm sure there are others I can't think of at the moment.
17) I was checking out Murray Gold's (composer for Doctor Who) Facebook page and I noticed he did a piece in a movie called Veronika Decides to Die.
This makes the second familiar element in that movie. (The first being miss Sarah Michelle Gellar; who of course played Buffy and is a pretty incredible actress.) I'm actually thinking of checking this one out. (*gasp* Something new?) The thing is...the title sounds like it could be very depressing. If it is, then I'm a bit wary. Torchwood: Children of Earth has almost zero rewatch value for me (I haven't rewatched it and have no plans to) becasue even though it was a nice epic story, it really did a number on my inner cynic. So...has anyone reading this seen Veronika Decides to Die? Can someone(without spoiling me) tell me what it's like? Even if it's an emotional bummer, I might still watch it. The question becomes: is it worth it?
18) Well, that's the rambling chaos that currently inhabits my mind. Have fun with it.
Meh.
I haven't had too much fanboyishness going on, so that tends to lead to less posting.
So what have I been doing with my time?
Feel free to skim/skip any points that aren't relevant to your interests.
1) I rewatched Veronica Mars and LOST. Yeah, I know; it's what I do. Veronica Mars wasn't as eventful the second time. It's still awesome, but it has less rewatch value so...I'll probably rewatch it less. The second time around LOST, I did notice more musical variation, but there was still a lot of repitition which leads to the perception of less variety. I love "There's No Place Like Home", "Locke'd Out Again", "Hollywood and Vines", "The Tangled Web", and "Parting Words" especially. (Yes, I downloaded and/or bought the soundtracks from seasons 1-5.)
And let's just take a moment here for me to bitch about how I hate that it takes so long for TV soundtracks to be released. Hate it. Hate it, hate it, hate it!!! I think there's a fair bit of cash to be made in releasing soundtracks...and considerably less cash to be made in waiting a year. Strike while the iron is hot, dammit!
Right, back to LOST. Season 6 made a bit more sense the second time around. I could see a lot of things pointing to the afterlife reveal that I didn't pick up on before. I enjoyed the show just as much (maybe more) the second time. LOST definitely has high rewatch value so...well, I'm sure you can guess.
2) I don't know if I mentioned it at the time, but I got my Associate's Degree in English. Well, I graduated; I'm still waiting for them to mail me the oh-so-important piece of paper that says so. They gave us empty leather jackets for the degree at the graduation ceremony...because they had the ceremony before finals week. The world makes so much sense. I got my Presidential Scholar certificate, so I'm assuming the degree can't be too far behind.
I haven't got a damn clue what I'm going to do now. I ought to either be getting a second job (with more hours) or going for a four year degree. Neither of these options appeals to me. I feel very directionless lately, but also very unmotivated. It's a terrible cycle. A third option I'm pondering is getting a second Associate's Degree (possibly in Mass Comm), but again, I don't really know what that would lead to. I have no direction and I'm pretty sure I should feel bad about that, but honestly I'm just apathetic to a lot of things lately.
3) Doctor Who. I've completed Series 5. It was quite good. I loved a lot of what they did. I did see some things coming in the final two episodes (particularly the way each of them ended). I'm enjoying the new doctor quite a lot, but I do feel like something's missing.
Because you know what, I enjoyed a lot of what RTD's crew accomplished on Doctor Who. *ducks*
Don't get me wrong. Moffat is doing brilliant things (particularly with the time travel). His episodes were among my favorites in RTD's era and they're my favorites from series 5 as well. Matt Smith is really doing a great job with the role. Amy Pond is probably my second favorite companion so far. (Donna Noble ftw!) The music is amazing as usual.
And let's take a moment here to repeat how much I HATE the fact that soundtracks take so damn long to be released!!!
It's all very brilliant and I'm enjoying it a lot, but it lacks a certain special oomph. I need an episode that makes me pace around the living room for an hour afterwards trying to figure out what's coming next. Dollhouse did this to me every week. Who from series 1-4 made me do this quite a bit (not quite every week). Veronica Mars did it quite a bit. LOST probably would have done it if I had stopped for long enough periods of time. Series 5 Who hasn't quite gotten me there yet.
Part of the problem might be that my viewing of series 5 was sort of fragmented. I would download three or four episodes at a time so I could burn them to a disc and watch them, but then it would be three or four weeks before I watched again. I plan to remedy this problem soon (probably within the next week) by rewatching series 5 as a whole and seeing if it can give me that extra kick.
Again, it's brilliant. I particularly loved 'The Lodger'. I would recommend series 5 to all of my friends. I'd even recommend it to people who couldn't quite get in to earlier Who, but might be willing to give it another go. Start with series 5, it's a very plausible place to jump in. I love it a lot, but it just isn't giving me that extra spark of wow that I so desperately crave.
Also, and I think not unrelated to the missing spark, I've been left with a bit of a craving for Who series 1-4. Half the things I do make me think of a fond memory from one of the episodes. The music gets stuck in my head a lot.
And let's just keep in mind that I really, really HATE the fact that I can't get any soundtracks yet! >.<
After I rewatch series 5 I'll probably go ahead and do series 1-5 inclusive just for the hell of it. And yes, I know; it's what I do. Try and keep up.
4) I have been playing entirely too much Final Fantasy Tactics. Seriously. I've been playing more than any socially well-adjusted person should play. Which is actually sort of okay because I'm not a socially well-adjusted person and I make no such claims, but still...
I've also been watching youtube videos of FFT AI tournaments. The players design teams and then they get set up against each other, run by the game's AI system and someone keeps a running commentary. It's all quite fascinating if you're into that kind of thing.
5) Similarly, I've been watching quite a few Let's Play videos. (And even rewatching in some cases.) Mostly they're Final Fantasy games, but some Sonic as well.
6) I'm very nearly in a mood to reread the Harry Potter books again. I'm not sure yet, though. I suspect it'll happen in November if nothing else.
7 Occasionally, I'll stumble into a mood where I want to reread Lord of the Rings. I've only ever read the series once...which is actually odd for me. The problem is...I lost my big trilogy book a long time ago and I've yet to have the mood, the gumption, and the cash all at once.
8) I was almost in a rewatch Buffy mood. I had just recently acquired official DVD's of all seven seasons. I decided to watch all the speical features and commentaries...this has sated my Buffy cravings for the time being.
9) Fics. I was writing like crazy when I was in school. In all honesty, I was writing too much and it was having an affect on the few shreds that I call my life. Now I'm a little bit burnt out, truth be told. It's a shame, because I was enjoying the mood quite a lot. Fic-ing is almost as good as working on my original stuff. Not that fanfics don't require originality, but writing my own characters brings an extra spark. (Again with the sparks?) It's like fic-ing is one spark, but writing my own characters is two sparks. Or something like that. Maybe with a more applicable ratio. Fic-ing is pretty damn nice.
The one I posted up recently is one I've actually had done for a while. Just a bit of beta work and polishing is all it takes with that. (So, yes, more chapters to come, if anyone was wondering.)
I haven't written anything new in quite a little while. (Early May, right around the time school let out and my enormous apathy started setting in.) I was really enjoying an S4 Wiffy fic I was working on, but the fire just died. Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up again soon.
10) Speaking of burnt-out writing flames: my novels. I haven't really written anything new on that front in a little over a year now. This is probably a large part of why I feel directionless. I have opened the documents a few times, but not really for writing. Usually I'm trying my hand at...*gasp*...editing. This is a dreadful process.
I managed to get my mom to read the first one (after much pestilential badgering) and actually got a bit of feedback. I would try this on the twenty-or-so other people who have copies, but it would be awkward to badger non-family people. Among the feedback I got from my mom was the comment that I have a very good plot, but the rest of it is somewhat like a shell and lacking details.
This criticism is...really very valid. I do it in my fics too. Dialogue and plot points make for a lot of my writing. If I had been born in a different era, I probably could've written some fine radio drama. As it is: I lack details. I think part of the problem is that I get too caught up in watching my plot unfold and just lose the details as I go. Incorporating details as I go is kind of rough, but not too bad. Going back to stuff that's done plot-wise and adding details...this is a pain in the ass. I'm done with the plot and so I get bored very quickly. It sucks. I'll get there eventually, but blegh.
11) Music. I've been working on a massive playlist. It's purpose is to be listened to while in the process of writing...or playing video games...or reading...or just when I feel like it. Like, seriously massive. I've been building/adding to it since way back when I actually was writing new stuff in my novels. I might put the tracklist together in a text file (I've been meaning to, just in case of computer failures and what-not then I'd still have a list on my flash drive) and if I do that, I'll probably post the list up to LJ just for thoughts and opinions.
12) I kind of want to rewatch Dilbert. (BTW, there's a Dilbert animated series that ran for two seasons.) It's really great. I wish it had run longer. That's a show that really appeals to my inner cynicism without fueling it. (As opposed to things like The Daily Show, which do appeal to me, but also tend to make me hate the world. It's not necessarily by virtue of the shows themselves, but more related to just the fact that people have an overwhelming tendency to do stupid shit.) Anywho, Dilbert = awesome. I'll probably rewatch it soon.
13) Looking forward to upcoming seasons of The Legend of Neil and The Guild. I'm planning to rewatch all of Neil and S3 of The Guild. (I have 1 and 2 on DVD and frequently play them as I go to sleep at night.) The Guild S3 didn't really do as much for me as the first two, but I watched the first two all at once and S3 once a week as it was released. Fragmented viewing doesn't do me any favors. With S4, I'll probably just wait for the end and then watch them all. I'm also a bit further removed from online gaming then I was when I started watching the show. I'm not sure if that's taking a toll on my interest level or if it's just the fragmented viewing or both.
14) What's up with all the rewatches/rereads? It's what I do. Really, I find the stuff that I enjoy enough to rewatch/reread and I rewatch/reread it. I'm slow to expand my list of things, but I'm also generally content with what I have. And yeah, I'd probably enjoy some other stuff (I love LOST, even though it took forever for me to finally watch it), but I have to be in a pretty particular mood to go for anything new. It's just how I am. My favorite way to get into something is to just stumble in and love it. (i.e. Angel...which then brought me to all things Whedon.) Me getting into new stuff is like me getting into a cold swimming pool. I'm that annoying guy who's easing down one step every ten minutes and getting used to the water. I'm not a fan of jumping in unless the water's really perfect.
15) And of course everything is just a part of the amusing stage show that keeps me distracted from the boredom and indifference that make up those few shreds I call my life.
16) Have I mentioned how much I hate the fact that I can't get soundtracks from recently aired (or in some cases, semi-recently aired) TV shows. Tracks I want:
The action-y theme from Doctor Who series 5. If you've seen it, you probably know the one I mean. I adore "All the Strange, Strange Creatures", but this one might just surpass it.
The variation of "AtSSC" that was used in The End of Time.
The regeneration theme from The End of Time. (Commonly called "Vale Dicem" on Youtube.)
The bit where the Master saved the Doctor in The End of Time. (I've seen a few names for it: "You Made Me", "The Requiem of Rassilon", etc.)
That dramatic slow one from The Waters of Mars (I've seen it called "The TimeLord Victorious".)
The new Doctor Who theme tune for 2010.
This one (referred to here as Amy Pond's theme).
Richard's theme from LOST.
In fact, most of the music from Ab Aeterno.
And Across the Sea.
And The End.
I'm sure there are others I can't think of at the moment.
17) I was checking out Murray Gold's (composer for Doctor Who) Facebook page and I noticed he did a piece in a movie called Veronika Decides to Die.
This makes the second familiar element in that movie. (The first being miss Sarah Michelle Gellar; who of course played Buffy and is a pretty incredible actress.) I'm actually thinking of checking this one out. (*gasp* Something new?) The thing is...the title sounds like it could be very depressing. If it is, then I'm a bit wary. Torchwood: Children of Earth has almost zero rewatch value for me (I haven't rewatched it and have no plans to) becasue even though it was a nice epic story, it really did a number on my inner cynic. So...has anyone reading this seen Veronika Decides to Die? Can someone(without spoiling me) tell me what it's like? Even if it's an emotional bummer, I might still watch it. The question becomes: is it worth it?
18) Well, that's the rambling chaos that currently inhabits my mind. Have fun with it.
Meh.