I'm now at over 2,300 words for the Dance of Twilight short story I'm working on. I hope to be able to keep a feverish momentum on this so that I can hopefully finish it soon, let it rest for about a week, and then bring it up again with fresher eyes and mind for a thorough editing. What might come out at the end of the the edit is a far cry from the original but heck, that's what an edit phase is for.
My target for this story is probably somewhere along the 7,000 words. By the time I finish, it could be considerably larger than that but the edit phase might actually cut down the story considerably to make it more cohesive and fluid. Ultimately, while this would be a love story, I hope to be able to keep up the fantastic elements throughout to make the story grounded yet somewhat removed from our reality.
During the rest period, I hope to start working on other creative pursuits. Maybe a story, a back-story, another exercise at world-creation, something that'll help keep the juices flowing.
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I'm a proud Papa.
Her ballet teacher, Teacher Pam, and her student-assistants no longer focus on Ikai because they know she could follow Teacher Pam's instructions easily. That makes the job easier for them because they no longer need to constantly watch Ikai and instead focus their attention on the newer and younger students.
Elvie and I have been speculating why Ikai hasn't been moved up to Yellow level yet and we surmise that aside from age (Ikai's other ex-Pink level-mates are already 6 years old), Teacher Pam needed to retain two or three of her Pink students who joined last June's summer culminating activity to be leaders for the new crop of Pinkies for their upcoming recital this December.
If we're correct about the latter reason, that's more reason to be a proud parent, don't you think?
Never mind the cost (yes, ballet is a bit draining on the resources even for a middle-class family), as long as my daughter is happy and passionate about what she's doing, we'll be supporting her.
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This morning, I just finished Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings after a marathon weekend reading (even reading chapters at Waltermart while waiting for Ikai in her ballet classes) and my, my ... it was a good read. Another thumbs-up for Sanderson. Hope to do a Late Review of it one of these days.
What's next on the reading list? I'll probably take a break from fantasy and pick-up the Francis Kong book that's lying about at home (sorry, forgot the title but will post it tonight or tomorrow). The F. Kong books is a slim collection of his essays done for a newspaper so it won't be no more than a two-day reading. On the way to Cebu on Wednesday, I'll most likely bring along Well of Ascension, Book 2 of the Mistborn Trilogy.
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An article by Niall Alexander over on Tor.com suggests that if I ever happen to develop an urge to read Jasper Fforde, I should start with either one of his two books: The Eyre Affair, the first book in his series starring his literature-attuned detective Thursday Next, or Shades of Grey.
Now, Fforde's books would be somewhat of a departure from yours truly on my preferred reading genre of SF&F but it still falls in the speculative fiction realm so that should be ok. And yes, sometimes it's good to get away from the norm if only to find out how things are doing in other realms. It's no different than reading a Ludlum, or one of the Dan Brown novels. I mean, I don't like vampires but was so intrigued by it that I bought and read Seth Grahame-Smith's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (movie though, according to critics, sucked big time).
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Managed to sneak in last Friday a trip to the cinemas to watch The Dark Knight Rises with Elvie.
After 3-hours of the caped and cowled crusader (who appears some 20 or 30 minutes into the movie), I think it was a fitting end to Christopher Nolan's take on one of DC's most popular characters.
While I liked the overall story-telling, the editing done, which I assume was done to cut down on the film's running time, somewhat marred the smooth flow of the story. Several scenes seemed disjointed and somewhat "jumped". There was no smooth transition from one scene to another.
I wasn't satisfied as to how Bane (Tom Hardy) was quickly disposed off by a rocket fired by Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) astride the Bat-cycle. I actually thought that the rocket shot at Bane would have just knocked out Bane and that he would return several minutes later to save Talia (Marion Cotillard) and a final one-on-one versus Batman (Christian Bale) and where the Bat would kick Bane's ass in retaliation for the back-breaking he received from the monster (well, technically they were in the middle of a one-on-one before Cat interfered with her rocket --).
Other stuff I had issue with in the film included ...
... that crying monologue of Alfred (Michael Caine) during Bruce Wayne's funeral -- I thought it was so melodramatic. I think I would've preferred if they've taken a page from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and have Alfred die of a heart attack caused by a broken heart.
... Bane's facemask which muffled his speech at times. Now, to be fair to the makers of the film, it could've been because of the actual physical cinema's audio-equipment limitations but still, there were times during the film where I could not understand what Bane was saying.
... the passage of time was tricky at times ... especially when it came to the months' countdown before the fusion device deteriorated and exploded and the time Bruce Wayne spent in the gulag that was Bane's prison.
However, despite the jumpy scenes, the quick way Bane was taken out of the picture, and other stuff, the revelations and the twists were enough to keep you glued. No bathroom breaks despite the film's three-hour plus running. Miranda Tate as Talia, Ra's Al-Ghul's daughter, and reference to young rookie officer Blake as Robin and him inheriting the Batcave? These were awesome and I could already picture out Joseph Gordon-Levitt in blue-black-red spandex wielding nightsticks as Nightwing.
In all, The Dark Knight Rises was a good film but I think The Dark Knight which had Bats facing Two-Face (Aaron Eckhart) and The Joker (played by the late Heath Ledger) has got to be the best of Nolan's Batman films.
Keepin' my fingers crossed for The Man of Steel.
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And not to be outdone, my daughters Ikai and Issa, along with their Auntie Tate also had their own movie date of sorts the following day, Saturday.
Following Ikai's ballet lessons, we trooped over to Glorietta IV so that the little ones could watch Ice Age 4: The Continental Drift.
According to my daughters, they've enjoyed the movie although I suspect that the enjoyment of the movie was more because of the snacks they brought with them inside including popcorn (which Issa calls pag-corn), french fries, and iced tea.
Next weekend, moolah permitting, Ikai and I have a date to watch the next Disney offering -- Brave.
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I don't know when I developed a penchant for mustard.
Over at lunch today at The New Bistro (aka Country Style) over at their Salcedo Street branch in Legaspi Village in Makati, I ordered their stacked grilled sandwich and aside from dousing the 'wich with tomato ketchup, I also asked for some mustard to lather the 'wich with.
I honestly can't recall having liked mustard in my younger years. I know I hated it as a kid. Its sour, pungent taste one of the things I hate most when eating a hotdog sandwich. When asked, I specifically leave out the mustard and take my 'wiches with just ketchup. Sometimes a little mayo or whatever sauce the fastfood joints puts in a 'wich but never the mustard.
Then nowadays, my 'wich ain't complete without the touch of mustard. My taste for the yellow sour stuff has developed somewhat that even at home, I have my own mustard.
And I'm the only one who uses it :P
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Rainy days and Mondays, folks! Be safe.
