6.21.2013

Catch-Up Friday: Ready.Set.Write! (2)

I missed What's Up Wednesday this week because my internet was down Tuesday night. So Alz covered for me instead: she did two mini book reviews.

So here's my Friday catch-up post for What's Up Wednesday / Ready.Set.Write!

WHAT I'M READING
I finished Froi of the Exiles, which was excellent though I liked Finnikin of the Rock more. Still, I can't wait to pick up Quintana of Charyn from the library. What an amazing fantasy this is!

Currently, I'm reading this:


Nova Ren Suma's writing is delightful, moody, and surreal.


WHAT I'M WRITING
I think I mostly made my 500 word goal, despite the starts and stops. I am also working on "Luck," though not the actual WIP itself. I started writing a sort of side story thing that will help me flesh out some backstory details. I think I'm starting to have a breakthrough on a plot-point through doing so - which is cause for celebration!

Goal: I think steady and slow is the way to go for me, so it'll be another 500 words for me this week. I'll add that I hope to actually write stuff in the actual WIP, but I'll be content with just getting more words down on this backstory.


WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW
The fact that I'm having any breakthroughs on this long-stalled project is pretty freaking inspiring! That aside, I've also been inspired by the gorgeous honeymoon pictures my friend has been posting - or that's possibly just jealousy. The water in Tahiti is seriously UNREAL. I think I need a vacation...


WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO
It's summer, which means it is top movie-going season for me and the Sister. Since the last What's Up Wednesday/ RSW post and today, we've seen 3 movies (and we're probably going to see World War Z this weekend)! We saw This is the End, Man of Steel, and Monsters University. Brief impressions:

This is the End - freaking hilarious. I'm still laughing about it, and I still can't get over one special moment/cameo. I can't say more or I'll spoil it, but it's SO GOOD. The whole premise of the actors playing themselves is pretty interesting and also great for laughs.

Man of Steel - I can see why the reviews are generally mixed-positive. I liked it though - a lot more than I thought I would considering everything I'd heard. It is a truly visually stunning piece (there are really picture-perfect shots / artistic and symbolic), and Henry Cavill wears the cape well and plays a younger, less experienced, and more vulnerable Superman. Also, not gonna lie, he's damn easy on the eyes. Hans Zimmer's score is fantastic too. The mixed part of all this is that I still felt like there was something missing - possibly because the 3rd act was kind of weak, consisting mostly of overly long action sequences filled with ridiculous (srsly ridic) amounts of destruction.

Monsters University - Confession time, Monsters Inc. is not one of my top Pixar movies, but I love Pixar movies in general so I was excited for this prequel. That and less with the creepy children (sorry guys, Boo was more creepy than cute to me). And it was as cute and fun as I thought it'd be! Monsters U doesn't deliver the emotional punch (or complexity, really) of UP or Wall-E, but it's enjoyable, funny, and it has heart - friendship, nostalgia, underdog tale, and so on.

Bonus for me is that Pixar used my old university stomping grounds as inspiration for the MU campus - so it was super fun recognizing the architecture of Cal in the movie. (I spotted some of those knuckle trees, parts of Doe library, the Mary Poppins-look of South Hall, the pylons at the main entrance...)

The entrance gate of MU looks a lot like Sather Gate. (Yes, that's me...graduating.)

Also, I received this on Thursday. Hope I get to read it over the weekend!


Lastly, the Sister and I are trying to figure out what to wear to Comic Con! Definitely more stressful than you'd think it'd be...


Q4U: Do you plan on seeing any movies soon or reading any of the above mentioned books?

5 comments:

Sarah Goldberg said...

I saw Man of Steel, and agree with you both about Henry Cavill and the third act. For more Henry Cavill, may I suggest I Capture the Castle? It's a mediocre adaptation of one of my favorite books, but it has Romola Garai, Bill Nighy, Rose Byrne, a young Henry Cavill, and a musty old castle. So.

Julie Dao said...

I agree with what Sarah said - I Capture the Castle has a lot of Henry Cavill! I think I'll probably go see that Monsters University movie... I liked Monsters Inc. a lot, so I'll probably like this one!

Connie Keller said...

My husband and I are going to see a movie on Monday. We'd been thinking about MoS, but I think we'd be disappointed. Maybe we'll try MU.

BTW, great to hear that the writing's flowing!!

Anonymous said...

HOORAY FOR BREAKTHROUGHS! Glad to hear you're making some headway! Whether it's backstory, frontstory, mainstory, sidestory (I can keep going), any progress is good news.

Still totally overwhelmed with jealousy at your signed copy of TOATEOTL (worst acronym EVER).

I haven't seen a new movie since Star Trek Into Darkness, hopefully I'm up for it soon because Donnie is throwing a major BF over not having seen Man of Steel yet. -____-

Good luck with getting your 500 words done this week! YOU CAN DO EET.

linda said...

ooh, cool! i've been terrible at watching movies and even READING BOOKS lately. need to get myself to the library...