Wannabe Writer's Ink

Wannabe writer with hobby of art. Stay and you'll glimpse a small piece of my heart.

Recent Media Consumed

Books

  • Going Postal, Making Money, and Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett. I am diving into the Discworld series, which is apparently broken up into multi-book arcs that follow different characters (or sets of characters) in Pratchett’s universe. This one follows a character named—I kid you not—Moist Von Lipwig. He's a con artist forced to use his considerable skill and every trick up his sleeve to set in order first the city’s post office, then the city’s bank and mint, and finally the city’s newfangled railroad and steam engine. What I enjoy most about Pratchett is that even when the situation is dire, the tone of his writing is always dry and upbeat. Oddly enough, it’s relaxing to read. I do enjoy my intense and emotional fantasy novels, but Pratchett is a welcome change of pace without being even the least bit insipid. Granted, Making Money confused me a bit, but I thoroughly enjoyed the other two. I’ve got the next chunk of the Discworld series coming in the mail, the arc that centers on the City Watch (their version of the police force). Looking forward to another dry, upbeat read.
  • The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene. I love this book. I hate this book. I definitely need to re-read this book in the future. There are moments where I completely disagree with Greene about human nature and what needs to be done, moments when I completely agree but am repulsed by the conclusion drawn, and moments where I am inspired. This is a difficult book to swallow and I need to re-read it slowly in the future, to parse which parts I want to digest more and which parts I don’t. But I'd say there are more parts that I agree with than parts I disagree with, and it's a very informative book.
  • The Host by Stehpanie Meyer. Here’s an old re-read. I never read the Twilight saga, but I heard all kinds of criticism blasting it. Whether it’s true or not, I think Meyer can really knock it out of the park writing alien novels because The Host is one of those books I loved ten years ago and it holds up just as well to me today.
  • The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. This was a re-read, and all I could think was, "Jordan Peterson has changed how I read books forever." The first time I read this, I enjoyed it because it was a really good story. The second time I read this, I was blown away because I recognized a crazy number of literary archetypes expertly compacted into this rather short novel. My reaction went from "Very good and enjoyable" to "Masterwork, absolute masterwork. This novel needs to be STUDIED."

Games

  • Stray. This game is 60% adorable-cat-landing-in-cyberpunk-dystopia and 40% straight up horror. It’s gorgeous and there’s all kinds of little fun things you can do if you play around right, but if you get upset by imagery I’d look into the game ahead of time because it’s got lots of disturbing images. Also, if you’re playing on Steam, you still need a controller because it’s very difficult to play this game with the keyboard. That aside, I really enjoyed it once I got the hang of the controls and would love to do a more completionist run in a year or two.

Movies

  • Fall. HOLY. FREAKING. 0_0 Okay… this is the first REALLY SOLID movie I’ve seen in a long time. In a nutshell, it’s a thriller where two girls climb the tallest TV/radio tower and get stuck at the top. The shots are incredible, the acting is believable, the FORESHADOWING was all done SPOT ON in such a way that you could spot a twist if you were REALLY PAYING ATTENTION. And every single time that Sergey or I or the friend we were watching with came up with an objection or a way the two of them could try to get help or get off the tower, the story immediately dealt with it. I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to see a movie this tightly written. And the focus on facing your fears and living your life even in the face of mortality, extreme though it is, is also a much-needed message. There are several gruesome images that push the edge of the PG-13 rating, so be warned, but this movie is VERY worth watching.
  • 10 Things I Hate About You. I love/hate high school cliche movies. No exception here. It’s loads of fun to see Heath Ledger’s early performances and there are a lot of funny moments and one-liners, but in general it’s hard to get behind any of the relationships. Fun watch.
  • Halloweentown 1 & 2. Lighthearted and fun Halloween movies. Definitely fluff through and through.
  • The Covenant. Fun, if not lighthearted. I got the feeling the word “witch” in this story was interchangeable with “creature of great supernatural strength.” Could easily have been vampires or werewolves or possessed humans or even Jedi masters for that matter. Still, for what it was, it was fun and there were a lot of good shots in it.

Shows

  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I know I’ve only seen two Star Trek series but this one is my favorite. It has a story that really takes its time building up to the major arcs. I miss every single character by the end. NOT ALL YOUR FAVORITES SURVIVE. Also, given that Star Trek ideals are more or less what my husband calls an atheist utopia, I was surprised at how much respect and reverence this show reserves for religion. This is an incredible show and I HIGHLY recommend it.

Plays

  • David (Sight and Sound Theatres). < background info > This is my fourth time to this theatre. There are only two of these in existence and they only run productions of stories out of the Bible. I’ve seen their productions of Noah, Jesus, and Esther. My middle sister has moved all the way out to Lancaster, PA in hopes of working at this theatre. My husband and I came out to visit her and we all went to see the current production of David together. < /background info > I grew up on these stories and I have never seen David, Michal, or Bathsheba portrayed like this. This cast gets down the joy of the spirit of God so well it stirred my own starvation for it. The one oversight in this theater is it does not provide tissues on the backs of the seats, I really could have used some. Sometimes one aspect of the play shines brighter than the rest (i.e. set, animatronics, costume, etc) and I have to say this time it was music, acting, and animatronics.