And so it begins…again

NaNoWriMo 2009 has begun. It being the annual, global challenge to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November, from start to finish. To do so means writing about 2000 words per day, which in theory should be entirely doable. On my first day yesterday I hit 1,792 which isn’t bad going – that’s above the recommended target for the first day of 1667.

My story started out as a pulpy, silly, fun riff on Transformers, but has since mutated into an Iron Giant/King Kong story which is actually a lot more engaging than I’d expect.

I do believe you can follow my progress, if you’re so inclined.

Climbing the mountain (with a sled full of meat)

Only my fellow FXhome colleagues will understand that obscure subject line.

It’s my birthday tomorrow! Although I only really remembered this evening, thanks to my parents, Wayne, James and Lucy unexpectedly buying me lovely presents (well, I presume Wayne’s is lovely, I’ve not actually opened it yet. It might be a turd. But I doubt it – it’s too big) and, of course, Nadia’s sterling efforts to birthdayify the living room. I’m actually rather excited now, as we’re also going out for a Thai meal tomorrow evening to celebrate.

There are multiple reasons I’ve barely been able to pause to think about such things. In no particular order, we have:

Guinod. Bennet Maples’ latest short film is a martial arts opera, which is about as crazy as it sounds. I’m doing some VFX work on it for him, which is great fun but inevitably time consuming. I’m progressing far slower than I would like, which hopefully isn’t annoying him too much as he’s doing a great job on Assault on Igneos, my new short film for FXhome which’ll be premiering online in a couple of weeks. With a bit of luck I’ll have all the Guinod stuff done in a couple of weeks.

Evinden. Finishing off the book was an epic achievement, if I may say so myself. During the final stretch I was fairly obsessive – hopefully I’ll be able to write at that kind of pace during NaNoWriMo next month.

NaNoWriMo. Write a 50,000 word novel in a month? Sure! Why not? It’s not like I only just finished a novel which took me six years…prep for the kick-off on Sunday is underway, and very excited I am too. I have a number of ideas I’m batting about, including one that is very silly, very fun, very cheeky.

Work. This is the big’un. Work is mental. We’re currently in crunch time before the big Christmas launch this year, which is approaching fast (Christmas doesn’t start in December for us, alas). We’ve announced PhotoKey 3 already, and there’s loads more to come. Exciting, but utterly knackering. Will say more when I can.

And now, I’m going to play some Left 4 Dead.

The idiot superclass

(WARNING: I’m sufficiently annoyed to have invoked The Charlie Brooker style in this article)

The human race has got this far not by being inherently superior to other animals, or by being of above average intelligence and physical stature. Homo sapiens are, in general, a bit shit. We’re one of the stupidest, most depraved, illogical and violent species on the planet. We haven’t got this far through collective endeavour: the only reason we’re not extinct is due to the extreme efforts of an enlightened few, who strive to work against the general mob of idiocy and self destruction.

This enlightened few, contrary to what certain political and supremacist groups would have you believe, is not specific to a particular sub-group of humanity. I’m not talking about Western civilisation, or indeed Asian or Arab or African civilisation. Quite the contrary: the enlightened few are scattered through history and throughout the globe, peppered through the general population at all levels. Equally, in all areas of human society, regardless of skin colour, gender, education, sexual orientation, class, politics, nationality or anything else, there is a seething morass of utter worthlessness. The massive inertia of this mob continually threatens to drag the entire species down – this is the idiot superclass, which overrides any other division in society. Idiots are all-pervasive.

‘Idiot’ certainly does not necessarily mean uneducated. As the saying goes: Knowledge is understanding that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing to not put it in a fruit salad.

So, it’s been one of those weeks. I’m a bit grouchy.

Kicking off with Nick Griffin’s appearance on BBC Question Time, which was as amusing as it was galling, it’s been one incident of the idiot superclass throwing their weight around after another. Take James Parkes, for example, a 22 year old trainee police officer who is currently fighting for his life after a collective group of the idiot superclass decided to attempt to destroy his head in a violent attack outside a nightclub. A gang of up to 20 people took part in the apparently unprovoked assault. Why? Because Mr Parkes is gay.

A member of the idiot superclass can be easily identified by a strange fixation on irrational prejudices and completely disproportionate responses to them. In this case, an irrational hatred and fear of homosexuals. The idiot superclass can’t just quietly stew in their own filthy ignorance: they have a need to spread it out into the world. In this regard they’re much like a disease, infecting all those around them with fear and hatred – and anybody that is immune runs the risk of being simply destroyed. It’s where zombie fiction comes from, basically. The idiot superclass is a far greater threat than global warming, giant asteroids or nuclear armageddon. Actually, the latter example would be mainly due to the idiot superclass, so scratch that one.

To take a less violent but equally insidious example, let’s take a look at Pauline Howe. She’s a grandmother from Norfolk who also has a problem with gay people. So much so, in fact, that she wrote to Norwich city council to complain about a Gay Pride march in the city. The letter was passed to the police as a possible hate-related issue due to its content, and Granny Pauline was interviewed by officers, with no further action taken. End of story? Did she learn her lesson and rise up to be one of the enlightened few? No, she instead took her story to The Daily Telegraph, because she can’t take a hint.

That’s another key trait of a member of the idiot superclass: they’re almost completely oblivious to their own faults and mistakes, often because they’re too busy attempting to blame somebody, anybody else. It’s inherent to the group, because without it people would only temporarily be a member of the superclass as they gradually absorbed more information throughout their lives. It’s a resistance to this new information that puts them in the superclass to begin with and then keeps them locked into the mentality indefinitely. Reason and evidence is irrelevant when they’re so convinced of their own righteousness.

Annoyingly, and rather tellingly, the full content of the letter she wrote has not, to my knowledge, been re-published, only select snippets – no doubt the less virulent segments, so as to successfully spin the situation against the police, the council and gay people in general. It makes it impossible to have a proper, reasoned debate with the woman – which is, of course, very deliberate, as a reasoned debate would very quickly highlight the tragic flaws in her outlook on life, religion and other people. Even the small snippets published by the Telegraph are fairly abhorrent, though. Check this out:

She described homosexuals as “sodomites” and said “their perverted sexual practices” were responsible for spreading sexually transmitted diseases and “the downfall of every empire”.

That’s right, people. GAYS DESTROYED THE EMPIRE. See what I mean about the idiot superclass always blaming other people, whether it makes sense or not?

Astonishingly, Howe claims that “she was merely expressing her religious convictions and was not homophobic”. She seems to be under the illusion that if you attribute your idiot rantings on religion it somehow exempts you from judgement. She’s not really homophobic, because she’s actually just following her religion. It doesn’t count. Much like the 9/11 terrorists that flew planes into the World Trade Center weren’t really terrorists – they were just expressing their religious convictions. You know, the conviction to be total arseholes.

Religion should not be invoked as a get-out clause that allows you to behave horribly towards others. Leave religion out of it: the problem lies with the individual.

The other great thing about the idiot superclass is that they often completely, utterly miss the point due to an irony deficiency. Also from the Telegraph article:

Mike Judge, of the Christian Institute, said: “Whether people agree or disagree with Mrs Howe’s views, everyone who cares about freedom should be alarmed at the police action.”

“Everyone who cares about freedom”, eh? You’re absolutely right, Mike! I absolutely do care about freedom and I’m very alarmed at the police action. I’m alarmed that they didn’t take the matter any further, given Howe’s apparent determination to restrict the rights and freedoms of gay people who are peacefully expressing themselves. After all, she did write “It is shameful that this small, but vociferous lobby should be allowed such a display unwarranted by the minimal number of homosexuals.” If you’re talking about freedom, you should look a little closer to home before pointing the finger at the police, Mr Judge.

The only positive thing that comes from the idiot superclass is their inadvertant hilarity. They are, after all, exceedingly funny. However, the amusement factor is inversely proportional to the strength of the opposing enlightened few – the mob is only entertaining while they remain powerless. And that’s why the BNP-on-Question Time debate is so crucial. And why everybody needs to get out and vote at the next elections. Let’s turn the enlightened few into the enlightened many.

It is worth it, despite the odds. As Morgan Freeman says at the end of Seven:

Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.” I agree with the second part.

At the final count: 159,803 words & 471 pages

My claims of “first draft compete!” earlier this week were slightly premature. Since then I’ve done some additional fiddling and formatting and only NOW have a proper first draft.

Quite a respectable length, really – about 25,000 words short of Dune. Whether the quality is worth speaking about remains to be seen!

Two copies have been ordered from Lulu.com, which I will be passing to a couple of people for ther informed opinion.

Meanwhile, I’m off to Eurogamer next Saturday, down in London. Should be fun. The day after I begin another novel, because I’m slightly mad, and also because it’s NaNoWriMo month.

158,380 words. 425 pages. 1st draft complete.

A handful of minutes ago I complete the first draft of Evinden, the novel I’ve been working on for the last nine-or-so years (about six of which involved the main writing part). It’s taken me far longer than it should have and there’s still work to be done to fill in some plot holes and tidy things up…but the main work is done. The body of the story is there, from start to finish.

It’s a proper novel. 158,380 words isn’t too shabby, really. It’s a real book!

Can’t quite form coherent thoughts about the experience of completion at this point, perhaps because I’m aware that it won’t be even vaguely publishable until the third draft. An important milestone nonetheless. I have to admit to being a teensy weensy bit proud.

And quite a bit scared.

149,566 – War! What is it good for?

Well, it’s good for exciting finales, for a start. But I’d better say no more for fear of dropping too many spoilers.

Hard to find time to write the last few weeks, what witha combination of House Moving Stuff, podcasting and Batman: Arkham Asylum (the compulsion is waning, though, so I should be back to normal now). Having said that, what I have been able to write has been really good – if I may say so myself. Or, at the very least, extremely satisfying.

The Big Bad and the Big Good are currently having their Big Face Off, and it’s so far proving extremely fun. Rather at the last minute I’ve been able to inject a little more thoughtfulness into the climax, rather than it just being a series of scrappy fights. With luck it should make it more interesting and memorable.

Next up is some traumatic GBH, then I’ll be seriously close to ACTUAL COMPLETION. Yes, I know I’ve said that so many times this year as to make my deadlines an absurdity, but this time it looks genuinely possible.

Of course, I’m also doing VFX on a short film called Guinod (it’s a martial arts opera, believe it or not), am editing and doing VFX on a steampunk short and am also indulging in the aforementioned podcasteroo (which means seeing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs this Wednesday). But, hey, I like being busy! At some point I need to find time to write some more articles for Potential Gamer, too, and try to push my portfolio out there a little more successfully.

For now, however, I shall go to bed.

145,556 – New house, same book

Soooo, been busy. Just moved house, you see, across the city to a lovely detached place in which I can finally unleash full volume surround sound without causing aural bodily harm to the neighbours. Bliss!

Despite this I’ve managed to scrounge a few moments here and there to write some of Evinden, although not a huge amount as you can see from the word count above. Still, better than nothing. I’m currently determined to finish the book before November, so that I can take part in my first Nanowrimo, which I’m hugely excited about. Focusing on a completely new project for a single monthy will also enable me to come back to Evinden with fresh eyes in December or 2010, to polish it up.

House move all went swimmingly – I highly recommend Simong Long Removals, who did a sterling job and were thoroughly nice chaps. We’re still lacking a few crucial bits of furniture, but we’re getting there. If you actually know us you can see some pics on the ol’ Facebookeroo.

Dollhouse season 1

We finished the first season of Dollhouse last night, with the vaguely legendary Epitaph One episode that inexplicably wasn’t aired in the States and was only shown over there on the DVD release. Thankfully Virgin here in the UK showed the whole lot.

My concluding thoughts were that it’s now developed into a very watchable, very entertaining show and one with a huge amount of promise if they’re allowed to develop it further – regardless of the Epitaph One revelations. It’s not The Wire good, but then nothing even comes close to that. I look forward to the second season and hope it continues to improve.

Having said that, the first half of the first season is fairly god awful. I mean really, genuinely terrible in places. The only reason we kept watching was because of Joss Whedon’s involvement – having enjoyed all his previous work, we remained convinced that the show would find its way soon enough. Apparently the first half’s woefulness is almost entirely down to studio interference, which lessened off in the second half – more on that here.

Of course, for the show to get a chance to really flourish, it needs more people to watch it. The problem with that, though, is that even if I recommend it to people they still have to wade through the shitty early eps. As such, I thought it prudent to do a little list of which eps to watch and which to skip. Turns out this is rather tricky, as even the crapola episodes have subplots that are important.

1. Ghost – It’s the intro episode, so needs to be watched to get a handle on the main concept. Don’t expect to be immediately impressed, though.

2. The Target – SKIP! Subplot stuff is good, mind you.

3. Stage Fright – For the love of god, SKIP! Couple of important subplot revelations, but the main storyline is enough to make you want to die.

4. Gray Hour – Vague improvement, interesting subplot stuff starts to lay down the direction for the 2nd half.

5. True Believer – Again watchable, if unremarkable. Subplot stuff continues to bubble.

6. Man On The Street – At last! Suddenly the show takes a turn for the awesome, fully embracing the disturbing nature of the core concept and featuring a brilliant guest role by Patton Oswalt (who voiced Remy in Ratatouille, fact fans!). First glimpse that there’s a good show hiding inside the previously mediocre/crap episodes with some real blindside surprises.

7. Echoes – Somewhat silly, but decent, with crucial plot stuff about Dushku’s character.

8. Needs – Intriguing ep, good stuff.

9. Spy in the House of Love – More good stuff, lots of twisty turny bits.

10. Haunted – Back to the standalone mediocre episodes, except generally much better produced and more entertaining. Optional.

11. Briar Rose – WATCH! Firefly/Serenity/I, Robot/3.10 To Yuma’s Alan Tudyk makes for a brilliant guest star.

12. Omega – The main season finale, excellent stuff.

13. Epitaph One – OMFG.

Hope that helps with any prospective viewers. :)

Day off! With lots to do, of course…

I’ve got the day off! Which is rather exciting. I’ve taken this Friday and the next off specifically to work on my book. If I really knuckle down I think I’ve got a good chance of finishing a first draft. Got a million other things to get done as well, of course, but nothing too strenuous. Plus the Batman: Arkham Asylum demo is out today, so hopefully that won’t prove too distracting. :)

Occasional readers of this blog might also be interested in the latest episode of It’s A Wrap, my movie review podcast. You can find us here: http://spiffingreview.com

Right, time to Get Stuff Done. Will update with progress later on. ;)

142,271 – clash, bang, biff, smash

Just a quick one, as I’m off to work in a sec.

Word count is still rising, battle’s progresing nicely. There’s really not long to go now, glancing over my plot outline. If it wasn’t for the fact I’m probably moving house next month I’d be confident of finishing! Having said that, I have taken a couple of Fridays off in order to focus specifically and exclusively on my writing, so that should help greatly.

Amazing to think I might nearly be there. In order to take a break once the first draft is finished I’m going to work on a little short story for Interzone, before returning to do the second draft tweakage.

Right, FXhome time.

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