Binary Bonsai

So, today was the second to last of the twelve script writing sessions I’ve attended at work. My relative quiet over the last few days have been from my working feverishly on shaping the lump of sloppy cookie dough representing my script, Caged, into something half-presentable as a ‘first draft’.

Well, things came to a head yesterday, as I realized that I had been too careless in defining some of the key turning points of the story, and it as a whole was tearing itself apart from trying to go in too many directions.

Left with two options, either fold and sit this round out, or take the challenge and do a rewrite for today, I decided on the latter. So since yesterday, until our class beginning at three in the afternoon, I hammered out about twenty pages of lyrically-poor, on-the-nose restructuring.

And while it makes for horrible reading, it was sourly needed, and the script is much better off for it.

Of course, we ran out of time, and so in a sense, all my efforts were for naught.

That’s not entirely true of course. Now I’ve got the full script, which is currently a healthy 28 pages and I just need to start polishing it down to something which can be read.

I’ve still got a horribly slow exposition-filled second act; I’ll have to figure something out to make it at least seem interesting.

Halloween Getaway

Rikke formulated a fantastic plan, and I followed suit. We’ve rented a small house in northern Sealand, where we’ll be going from saturday till Wednesday.

I know what you’re thinking: “Hey, that’s halloween, ain’t it?”. Yes; yes it is. And that’s why we’re filling up our bags with books and movies (most of which are of the horror variety). It’ll be fabulous.

For my part, these are the books I’ll be towing with me:

Alastair Reynolds – Revelation Space

On the planet Resurgam, archæologist and scion of House Sylveste, Dan Sylveste, is engaged in an archæological dig, researching a species known as the Amarantin and cause of their apparent mass extinction, dubbed “the Event”. He has to face several political problems on the colony, including a power struggle between the archæologists and those interested in terraforming the planet to make it more comfortable. #

Alastair Reynolds – Chasm City

Chasm City is framed and largely written in the voice of Tanner Mirabel, a security expert who has come to Chasm City to avenge the death of his former client’s wife at the hands of a “postmortal” noble named Argent Reivich. #

I’m about 200 pages into this, and while it hasn’t truly gripped me yet, I’ve sworn that I’d finish it. I’m also reading the first of the books in Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space trilogy, named thusly. And while I was overjoyed with the first hundreds of pages, it bogged down in boring nonsense around the middle, and I’ve been stuck there for a very long time. I might bring that as well…

Terry Brooks – Armageddon’s Children

The world, now ravaged by nuclear war and plague, lies in ruins. Demons and their once-men underlings scour the continents, enslaving and experimenting upon what healthy young remain. Mutations from the fallout and poisons have produced offshoots from humanity – Moles (those adapted to living underground), Spiders (named for their agile, long limbs), and the scaly, brutish Lizards. Zombie-like creatures called Croaks roam free as well, searching for bodies to devour. Most humans are walled up in stadiums and arenas in large cities, fortified compounds filled with thousands of frightened refugees. A few, mostly children, live as tribes hidden in buildings on the streets. #

Robert Heinlein – Starship Troopers

Starship Troopers takes place during an interstellar war between the Terran Federation of Earth and the Arachnids (referred to as “the Bugs”) of Klendathu. It is narrated as a series of flashbacks by Juan Rico, and it is one of only a few Heinlein novels to use that narrative device. #

Frank Miller – Batman: Year One

Bruce Wayne, aged 24, returns home from training abroad for twelve years. In Gotham, he bides his time, waiting for the right moment, all the while preparing himself. Gordon, meanwhile, has moved to Gotham with his pregnant wife, Barbara, and pursues a career in law enforcement. #

Steve Wozniak – iWoz

Describes the creation of the first personal computer, details engineer Steve Wozniak’s life before and after Apple, and provides a personal perspective on the invention that helped ignite the computer revolution. #

Jeff Hawkins – On Intelligence

On Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines is a book by Palm Pilot-inventor Jeff Hawkins with New York Times science writer Sandra Blakeslee. The book explains Hawkins’ memory-prediction framework theory of the brain and describes some of its consequences. #

H.P. Lovecraft – Omnibus 1: At the Mountains of Madness

These tales of horror are in the true gothic tradition … full of hinted terrors and unholy stenches. They are something very much out of the ordinary, a real collector’s piece for connoisseurs of the unusual! Lovers of the macabre, the sinister, and the uncanny, take note. #

I very much wish I had the fifth volume of Akira (since I just bought the sixth), but oh well. But, as you can see, I’ll be a busy little bee. Especially considering that I also have to finish the second, and potentially final, draft during that time. I doubt I’ll have time to read more than a few, considering all the movies and food that also need to be devoured.

Should be interesting.