Catching Fire the movie

Ok this review is going to be slightly different from the others. I don’t usually review movies because I spend more time reading and actually getting to the cinema is something that I don’t do often. But in this case I’ve actually seen Catching Fire twice.

It’s not because it’s a good movie, though it is. And it’s not because I fell asleep for five minutes the first time I watched it (I’d had a busy few days). I just had two different groups of friends who wanted to see it and I went with both. But this means that I’ve had a lot more time to analyse it than I usually would and this will naturally offset what I have to say. Just so we’re all clear and honest.

Catching Fire is the second in the Hunger Games trilogy. I’m going to say right now that I wasn’t too happy with the first movie. I mean, it wasn’t bad exactly. It was certainly watchable.  But there were things about it I just didn’t like. The camerawork for the opening fifteen minutes seemed a bit jolty to me. I don’t really want to make a point of that though because every time I’ve mentioned it to someone else they’ve looked at me like I’m an idiot and I’m not sure that the projector didn’t just have a little malfunction. I also felt that they took too long actually getting to the games. They were focusing on the build up for a long time. The games themselves were reasonably well done, though the dogs at the end were a bit of a let-down, especially considering how horrific they were in the books. Still this was a PG 13 movie so there was a limit to what they could show. But my main problem with it was how they dealt with Peeta’s character. They made him seem a bit…weak? In the book he was a really strong character who found himself stuck in a tournament to the death with a girl he had a huge crush on and decided to focus on getting her through it. However I always felt that his feelings for Katniss didn’t define him, that he would have acted in a similar manner for someone else in the games. He was very sure about doing it his way and not letting the Capitol change him. But in the books he seem half shell shocked and half obsessively in love. At one point he apologised for not actually handing Katniss the bread instead of just dropping it at her feet. The other line of his that they missed out, the major one in my opinion, was the point where he said, ‘I did like other girls. But not as much or for as long as you.’ It actually gave him depth.

So all in all I wasn’t too impressed with the first movie. But Catching Fire blows it all away.

Seriously, where to start? It just seems an all-round better movie and a masterful adaptation of a book. Once again it takes half the movie to get to the actual Hunger Games part of it and when I first watched it I was very aware of how long it had taken. But they didn’t actually cut anything that happened in the arena. In fact, looking back, they had to cut a lot from the pre-tournament bit that would have been nice to see. And in the book it took that long to get there as well.

Peeta is a much stronger character in this movie. In fact they’ve pared back on the romance a fair bit, something I’m thankful for. They haven’t removed it completely and Gale’s character seems there to do nothing but angst but Peeta actually seemed like his own person, not some pathetic ball and chain for Katniss.

Finally let’s talk about the love shown to the actual readers of the book. Obviously they couldn’t include everything. There was never any possibility of that. But there are so many nice touches that hint at what’s there without actually showing it. The whole Avox subplot is dropped but they still include one waiting on everyone and standing silently in the background. President Snow’s Granddaughter also features in this movie, which didn’t happen in the books. I’m personally glad they made that change though. When she gets mentioned in Mockingjay it’s quite sudden and we got no hint of her existence previously. If they do that part of the movie in the same way as in the book then it’s going to have a much better impact.

Nothing is perfect though and there are a few things that I’ve got issue with. As previously mentioned Gale has been reduced as a character to someone much less likeable, who does nothing but complain and act angsty. Then there’s the ending. It worked and it was just like in the book but it was still pretty abrupt. And it didn’t have the same impact as in the book because the destination they end up in (I’m keeping it vague to stop spoilers) is just barely mentioned. In the books there was this huge subplot about it and we got the possibility presented to us firmly. But in the movie it’s mentioned once before they arrive and in a speech where you’re paying much more attention to the rest of what’s being said than the specifics. Then, when it is revealed, it’s again in a dialogue where there are slightly more important things being discussed. It might have been nice to get some surprise or for the location to have been mentioned a bit more previously but I’m not sure they could have properly done it without taking something else out.

But seriously, go see this movie. It’s just so good. Everything is done well, the camera work is seamless and you’ll have a whole lot of fun watching it. My meaningless rating is a very solid eight out of ten and here’s the link to the trailer.

The quiet month

It's probably about time I did a small blog post, just to catch everyone up to where I am now and what's going to be happened. I should really be doing these more often but being a writer means that things don't happen very fast. The next time you pick up a book and skip through those 300 odd pages it's probably worth considering that it took about a year to write that book, get it fully edited and then presented to you. Which doesn't present you with a lot to talk about until after it's done.

So I managed to finish NaNoWriMo on time. Just. Most of the words were done in the last four days. Hopefully next year I'll be slightly more organised over it but I doubt it. Still there's 50,000 words done that can be edited down into something more usable. And then stuck in a cupboard for years until I remember about it and use it. That's not really important though. I do NaNoWriMo just to keep me sharp and to increase my typing speed in case of emergencies. I was over 3k an hour at some points this year. That was pretty cool.

Things with Attack of the Giant Robot Chickens is pretty much wrapped up. I've got to proof-read the manuscript two more times and then that's it. I'll be completely done. It's...interesting. Part of me still can't really accept that I'm going to be published. I think it'll only be when I hold the finished book in my hands that I'll really believe it. But I'm now on both Amazon and the Waterstones website for pre-ordering. And that is so cool I can't properly describe it.

There's not really going to be much happening on this blog for the next month. This is usual for December. I'm usually pretty tired after NaNoWriMo or I'll be more focused on editing what I have. This year I've got a lot of coursework that has to be finished and handed in. And I can't buy and new book in case I get them for Christmas. So basically don't expect much up on here for the rest of the year. Any books I do review will be older ones that I've read a few time. I will have a new one (for me) up just before Christmas but apart from that I'm not promising anything.

Anyway, I'd best get back to work. Busy, busy, busy.

A little something about writing.

So I think I should put something about my writing process. More specifically about procrastination.
I love being a writer. Really, I do. I find writing a very fun activity and burst writing (putting out a large amount of words in a short space of time) is a huge rush. Some day I hope to be able to inspire the same emotions in others that authors have inspired in me.
The only thing is...I'm lazy.
Distractions on the internet are an easy way for me to be entertained and I have a hard time getting myself to focus. It's always been that way with writing for me. Before I had internet access I'd stop writing to read random sections from random books. Once I'm in the zone I can output words at an fantastic rate but getting into there is really hard for me.
And ok, I'm writing this news post instead of doing NaNoWriMo.
Apart from the chronic procrastination things aren't going badly. I wrote 8000 words yesterday, bringing my total up to 10,000. That's me a fifth of the way there. I'm hoping to write 10,000 tonight, which will leave me with a total of 20,000.
I guess I should stop wasting time. I'll post an update on Wednesday. Hopefully it'll be all about how I succeeded and how I reached the 50,000 words well ahead of time. But we'll see.

A late beginner

So if you've been following this blog for any length of time or even if you've just flicked back through my posts you'll know that November is NaNoWriMo. It's the month where you have to write 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. I look forward to it every year.
Sadly, due to some hefty time constraints I haven't started it yet. I'm going to change this tonight.
Everytime I do this, or try burst writing novels, I tend to tweet pretty heavily. You can follow the ranting here if you do so choose.
7 days, 50,000 words. Let's jam.

Unsouled by Neal Shusterman

If there’s one stereotype that I don’t particularly like it’s the idea that teenagers only like dark, depressing stories. Every time I go into a bookshop and go to the teenage section all the covers are black and most of the stories are about bad romances, persecution and misery. Would it kill them to try and write a happy teenage book? Or at least try and have a bright front cover?

I mean, I do like dark, depressing books but it’s still a stereotype.

So one of the new releases that I’ve been looking forward to for the past year is Unsouled by Neal Shusterman, third in the Unwind series. The general premise of the series is that there has been a second civil war in America over the abortion issue. To stop the fighting and to control the ‘feral’ teens that have started roaming the streets Unwinding was introduced. Abortion becomes illegal and every pregnancy must be seen through. However between certain ages the teenager can be retroactively aborted. What will then happen is that they’re unwound. All their limbs are removed, every part of their body gets harvested and then used in medical treatments. The thing is that the teenager is never killed. All this happens while they’re still alive and, as none of the tissue dies, technically and by law neither does the teenager. Naturally this develops into a huge industry and thousands of teenagers get unwound every year.

You don’t get much more dark and depressing than that.

The first book focused on three people bound for unwinding. There was Connor, one of those whose parents had chosen him to be unwound. There was Risa, one of the 10% of kids in orphanages that get unwound every year due to budget constraints. And finally there was Levi. Levi is the most interesting of the three, at least initially. He actually wants to be unwound. Raised as a Tithe he believes that it’s his religious duty to sacrifice himself to be unwound.

This isn't a review for that book but let me just say that it caught my interest. I read the second one almost straight after and now, finally, the third one is out.

Um…..it’s ok.

It’s usually not a great thing if all you can say about a book is that it’s ok but I’m not sure I can give it much more praise. My main problem is about the plot. The first two books, Unwind and Unwholly, are both pretty much self-contained. You get the whole story from them. Unwholly does set up for Unsouled quite well but it had enough content to leave me satisfied. Unsouled feels more like a set up book, one that is all about setting things up for the next one. It’s not that stuff doesn’t happens and that the plot doesn’t advance but I don’t feel like I’m getting as much of the story as I did in the previous two.

This book was definitely about backstory, understanding the people working behind the scenes and their possible motivations. And honestly, meh. It’s not something we haven’t seen before and personally I’d have preferred it if there were multiple threats, not one big bad guy. But that’s just a personal preference.

The other main issue I have with it is that it doesn’t have a great moment. The other two books have both had a moment that crystallises in my mind as a great piece of writing. In the first book it was a chapter where the narrator is unwound. But Unsouled doesn’t have that.

Still, those two things aside it’s worth buying, if only because I have a feeling that the next book is going to be amazing. This series have always had great characters and their development is well thought out and interesting. The writing itself is ok, nothing to really write home about, but it does the job well. All in all I’d definitely recommend the series and if that means this book as well then I guess you should get this book as well. My meaningless rating is six out of ten and it can be bought on Amazon here.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson - A review

I’m not really into comics but I can confidently say that Superman is the worst hero.

Seriously, he is. And I’m not talking about being weak or having the wrong power. He’s practically the definition of over powered. And that’s the problem. It makes him really boring. I prefer heroes like Batman and Thor because, although they may be powerful, they have clear limitations and have to come up with inventive ways of winning. Whereas Superman just brushes all other characters away. The only way to beat Superman is to either put him up against someone else OP, use kryptonite with depressing regularity or write him as somehow less powerful. It’s just annoying to read.

Anyway, rant aside I read Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson this week and I loved it. Set in a post-apocalypticish world random humans have been given super powers. These people, called Epics, did what any sensible person would. They don costumes, give themselves names like Steelheart and Nightwielder and proceed to slaughter and dominate the world.

Wait what?

Yes, in this story the superheroes are the bad guys. After realising that they were basically unstoppable they ripped the world to shreds and claimed the bits for themselves. The narrative is based in what used to be Chicago and is now called Newcago. Apparently originality isn’t a super power. The main villain is an Epic called Steelheart, who is basically Superman. He’s got a cape, he’s invulnerable to harm, he can fly, has super strength, can fire blasts of energy….basically he’s super over-powered. And I love it.

This may seem a direct contradiction to what I said in the opening paragraphs. Let me explain. As boring as Superman is there is one instance where I liked him as a character.  In the Injustice: Gods Among Us game, where he was an evil overlord. You see, being overpowered isn’t a bad thing for a villain to be. As long as they’re beaten in the correct way then it’s actually a good thing. It gives something for the protagonist to strive against and a feeling of accomplishment if the bad guy is ever beaten. Superman never really had to try. That’s why he’s a bad character. Darth Vader never really had to try. That’s why he’s a good villain.

Evil superheroes in general is something that I will probably never get tired of and it’s done really well here. As a balance to every Epic being a newly minted demigod they’ve all got a specific weakness, their kryptonite if you will. The weakness differs from person to person and could be anything, from a mood to a symbol to someone’s age. The problem is figuring out what that weakness is in enough time to be able to kill them.

With that basic premise out the way the rest of the book is fairly standard sci-fi story telling. Most of humanity is squashed beneath the spandexed foot of the Epics. But there’s hope in the form of a resistance, ordinary humans who call themselves the Reckoners and kill every Epic that they can lay their hands on. The main character is a teenage boy called David, who has the distinction of being the only person who has seen Steelheart bleed. Calamity ensues.

Can I just say how much I liked this book? Usually I like to talk about the faults with a story but with this one I honestly can only think of one. The plot has a good rhythm to it, always keeping a decent pace but never feeling rushed. The characters aren’t stereotyped and are mostly developed well. My only fault is here and that’s that two of the main characters aren’t really developed. I mean they’re interesting and all but you don’t really get their backstory. Looks like that’ll come in the confirmed sequel. But the setting is what I really like, as well as the way it’s thought out. It’s a very believable world. Dark, depressing and horrible but believable.

I can’t think of much more to say. It’s the first Brandon Sanderson novel that I’ve read and I’ll definitely be looking at his other work. It’s a good solid novel. There’s nothing really outstanding about it but I enjoyed reading it and I’ll probably read it again. Several times. If you like dark superhero stuff then definitely give it a look. The completely meaningless rating is a solid 7 out of 10 and the Amazon link is here.

Apparently not the end.

Low and behold, it's two months later and I'm back. Turns out leaping onto a new platform while knowing nothing about that platform is a terrible idea. It's not that Tumblr is a bad platform for what I was wanting to do, it's just that it wasn't quite what I thought it was. The main problem was that Tumblr usually uses short, snappy posts and my reviews, the shortest things I do, average about 700 words. So yeah. That was dumb.
So what happens now? Well I want to say that this day mark the dawning of a new age. And it sort of does. The reviews won't be coming as fast as I'd have liked and I'm not sure when I can start putting up short stories again but they will at least be more regular. This will be helped by me putting all the reviews that were on Tumblr on here over the next few weeks, just to make them more visible. I've got a few ideas for other things I can do that I'll be messing about with over the next few weeks. But none of this will be happening fast. My university course is getting busy and I'm still working with editing the chicken novel, though I'm almost done with that. Lastly it November and you know what that means. NaNoWriMo is back. So any spare time I might have will be devoted to writing the next novel.
But it's nice to have this going again and I can promise at least a moderately regular update schedule. To start with here's a book review. Have fun.

The End

I've had a long think about things and I think it's time this blog came to an end.
It's not exactly unexpected. I mean it's been slowly dying for the past year and more. I've not been posting stuff to it and I've hit too many consecutive posts saying that I will update, just as soon as I've got time. No reviews are getting done, no short stories are getting written and I'm not writing about my journey to become a published author. Even when I got invited to the Kelpies Prize award ceremony as one of the nominees I didn't post anything.
Well the journey is at an end. Attack of the Giant Robot Chickens is set to be published by Floris Books in the early Spring of next year. I've made it. Which is a good time to draw this blog to a close.
And start up another one.
All in all it would probably suit my style better if I moved over to Tumblr. I've loved doing this blog but one thing that has really bugged me is the lack of feedback it allows. I mean I can see the x amount of people has seen it and where they came from but that's about it. I think with Tumblr I'd be able to promote myself better and get more feedback about what people think. So please, come check me out. The link is here. I'll look forward to seeing you.


Though I did try this before so chances are I'll be back in a few months.

Attack of the Giant Robot Chickens

Two week last Thursday, on the 22nd of August, one of my dreams came true. I won the Kelpies Prize and that means that I'm going to become a published author.
Since then news of this has spread. I've so far appeared in at least two newspapers and on a number of blog and press released. And this would be great and amazing apart from one thing. A large number of them mention this blog. This blog that I haven't really done anything with for ages.
Ho hum.
I want to start putting stuff back up on here. I really do. I just can't right now. I've just moved back to university and do't currently have much internet. What I do is being carefully rationed.
But I get hooked up to the internet permanently on Tuesday. So if you're visiting please wait patiently and come back then. Thanks.

World War Z - A Review

Ok, I want to make one thing clear, right from the start. This is a review of the movie, not the book.

This might seem to be a rather aggressive beginning to a review but it is important. The movie is almost nothing like the book. The book is about someone from the UN going around the world after the zombie apocalypse is over. It is made of interviews of people from around the world, each describing how their own country did or did not deal with the undead menace. There are one or two things I have issue with, like the guy from Britain being interviewed while wearing a kilt and talking about the Queen all the time, but in a genre that had countless books about zombies it’s something fresh and new. 

The movie is about a guy from the UN running about all over the world just after the start of the zombie apocalypse and trying to find what caused it/any way to beat it.

So. There’s almost no point in comparing the two of them. They share a name and not a lot else. And now I've got that out of the way, on with the review.

World War Z is a film that about Brad Pitt travelling all over the world and being chased by zombies in several exotic locations. This is basically it. He is supposed to be looking for something to help fight them but the way he eventually comes up with is kind of dumb and probably best ignored. I couldn't wait to see it, partly because I love zombies and partly because some of it was shot in Glasgow near where I live. I'm sad to say I was a little disappointed.

The film starts off pretty well. The introduction is several news clips strung together with animals eating meat and builds an effective sense of tension. Then we get introduced to Brad Pitt and his wife and kids, who seem to do little in the first 20 minutes of the movie other than hold him back. The first encounter with the zombies is done well as well. Honestly this might be my favourite part of the movie. It shows Brad Pitt lost and confused but obviously thinking and figuring things out. There’s a part where he thinks he might have been infected so he stands on the edge of a building so that if he turns he will fall off. I mean when was the last time you saw someone do that?

Sadly after that things in my opinion go downhill a bit. As I said he is sent round to various places with an expert in viruses or something, who is supposed to be their only hope, and a squad of SEALs for good measure. Five minutes after virus guy gives a speech on the plane to Korea about how he’ll be looking for clues to combating the zombie plague, and in the process talking about Mother Nature in a way that makes me think that he’s been single for a long time, he gets separated from Brad Pitt in a way so ridiculous that it was all I could do not to burst out laughing. Then it’s up to just Pitt alone to travel the globe, looking for clues and dodging zombies that might as well be ninja as they seem able to appear any time any where in ludicrously large numbers. And I know that that is supposed to be one of the things about zombies but usually it takes a few hours at least for someone to turn after they've become infected. In the movie it’s twelve seconds, which means that it’s pretty unlikely for someone who’s been infected to be able to hide among a crowd for a while.

However….I am a bit of a zombie slob so let’s just boil it down to its basics and look at what the movie offers. Does it give you large amount of zombies and running action. Yes. In buckets. Sometimes it’s a bit dumb but you get zombies leaping out at the drop of a hat and some really tense moments. Does it give you something that other zombie movies don’t? Yes. Usually zombie movies are about a small group of people wondering around a small location. This shows things from the perspective of the government and while this isn’t exactly unique it is rare enough to distinguish it from the rest of the herd. And as I’ve said you get a reasonably wide variety of locations in which Brad Pitt runs away from zombies.

And finally, is it enjoyable? Yes. Although it gets increasingly silly as it progresses if you’re looking for just a dumb bit of fun where you don’t have to think about the plot all that much then definitely go watch it. I mean I’m probably never going to see it again but I don’t regret that I did. Even if I did have to stop myself from laughing a few times.

So if this is what you want in a zombie movie then go ahead. If not then there’s plenty of others out there. So all in all, I’d give this movie a six out of ten.

When things don't go according to plan

Well. Exactly two months ago I posted that I was going to update this blog every day with massive amounts of new content. This has obviously not happened.

Big things have been happening though. Just nothing I can actually talk about right now. In the meantime I'm working on the problem of not updating that often and in the meantime here's a movie review. The next post will be in a few days. This I can promise.

A break for work

I have been crazy busy lately.

Before doing this university course I never realised how much goes into making videos. The writing of the script, the rewriting of the script, getting everyone together, getting the equipment. Even the paperwork. It all takes a lot more time than I would have thought. I mean I always knew that it wasn't easy but I never thought it would be quite this...intensive. And film making is only one of my modules. I had two others as well. So lately I've been so busy I haven't really had a chance to work on trying to get work published or even to write much. But that's about to change.

The first year of my university course is almost at an end. Tomorrow I'll do the last bit of paperwork for the last module and then I'll be finished. But I won't be going home. I'm paying for this accommodation until the 8th of June and I'm going to be getting my moneys worth. So that leaves me with a rare opportunity. I'm finally going to have the time to really try cracking into this profession.

And so begins my Month of Being a Writer. 

Unlike NaNoWriMo this won't just be about writing as much as possible. This time I'll focus on improving the general quality of my work and getting published. Maybe even, (dare I hope?) getting paid. My main goals will be to find a publisher for my novel and to start the Kickstarter for Undead Getaway, which has been flagging recently. I'm giving a public reading of part of it on Friday and you never know, there may be a publisher in the audience. If not then I'm just going to send it off to one. I'm tired of waiting. This novel is ready. 

Until then I've got editing to do. Which is my least favourite part of being a writer but it is essential.

Oh, I almost forgot. I'll be posting on this blog every day until the month is up. Hopefully by the end I'll have gained something. If not, at least I'll have finally started updating again.

Undead Getaway

Ok, I'm not going to lie, I forgot I still had this.
In my defence I have been pretty busy. Since my last update I've written another novel and submitted it to another competition. I've had university work and have been working on about three videos. I've entered a few competitions and started writing scripts. And all the numerous other things that make up life.
And yet for some reason this site continues to have traffic. According to the analytics it was viewed by 72 people last month, mostly from the United States and Germany (Guten Tag!). It's been almost five months since my last post and yet 72 people have visited this site? I honestly want to say thanks. That just seems amazing to me.
So I want to tell you about the project I'm working on right now. It's called Undead Getaway (because we suck at names) and will basically be a travel show. With zombies. Because why not?
However traveling costs a fair bit of money and we're all students and basically broke. So here's our plan. We're going to try Kickstarting it. Kickstater (for those of you who don't know) is a crowd sourcing website where people put up ideas that they have and ask people to give them money to fund it. They give incentives so that at certain pledge levels you get stuff like t-shirts, posters or stuff like that. If they manage to raise the amount of money that they're asking for then they get it all. If not then they get nothing.
My group and I believe that this project has merit and that it can work. We're working on a pilot episode set in Ayr, Scotland, and that should be finished within the next few weeks. We've got a Facebook Page, a tumblr account and a Twitter feed or whatever it's called. If you think this is interesting please check it out, like, favourite, subscribe, share. All that stuff. Lot's of information will be coming out soon. It's going to be an interesting time.
Well I'd best wrap this up, now that the shameless begging is done. I've got to film a music video tomorrow and a lot of stuff to do before then. So goodnight. And thank again for continuing to read this blog.