Six Sentence Sunday: Coming Home

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Hello there Sunday Sixers, and Sixer-fans, and welcome to another round of our wonderful Sunday tradition. Admittedly, I have been absent quite a lot, half the time editing, the other half of the time slacking off, but...OK, no BUT, there is no excuse for editing during the holidays, I know. :) I'm looking forward to seeing what you have all been up to lately, and I'll be reading your excerpts momentarily. Oh, and I'd be a very happy bee if you left me a little comment with your thoughts and insight before you go. Have a good one. :)  
Today, there will be no excerpt from The Days Adrift, instead, I'll give you the first six sentences of Anoethau, fruit of my NaNoWriMo participation this year. Let's get to it then, shall we.



Artie turned the key with one hand, the plastic bag with groceries was dangling from the wrist of his other arm. He gave the thick wooden door a little push. Home.  
He loved the smell of the old house, and every time the door closed behind him he felt like he entered a different world, another century, the world his grandparents had lived in. 
The house had been in his family for generations, but much to his surprise his grandmother had left it to him, the ex-convict, the murderer, not his sister, the one who had been the epitome of virtue all her life.
After living in the house for over a year, it still made him grin thinking about it, visualizing his sister's face the moment she found out that she and her annoying idiot husband were left with nothing.

Breaking Bad Season 1 reviewed

Ah, the hilarity. I have avoided watching Breaking Bad for as long as I did because I didn't trust the hype around the serial drama. There is this big glorification fuss about it that I turn up my nose at, especially in light of the fact that it revolves around the world of drugs, drug production, cartels and drug use. Not wanting to be the judgmental police here, but I find coolness hypes involving criminals annoying. Like not turning around when something explodes behind your back, that kind of thing; just stupid, especially when utilized to portray degrees of "badassness" in characters.

I knew beforehand that the series has some of that- but I also knew myself well enough to expect that once I get sucked into a new and exciting world, there is hardly a way out except to watch it, all of it. I didn't like 24 all that much, and still I couldn't bring myself to stop watching it. Now, that Breaking Bad is in its fifth and final season, hubby and I bought the first season on Blu-ray.

Teacher goes meth cook: The journey of W. White aka Heisenberg

It is an extremely odd series, especially the first couple of episodes. Odd in the sense that it wants to be different, dark and edgy, and it only partially succeeds in being that. The pilot was good, plausible, intriguing and it introduced the show and cast well enough. The events leading to the meltdown of its main character, Walter White, chemistry teacher, and the one breaking bad are reasonable, albeit laid on a little thick. The acting is really good, exceptional on Cranston's and Paul's part, and over time some of the episodes develop a bone-chilling dark humor that is rare on TV; plus the science MacGyver alcove complements the format.

The moral implications of becoming a criminal however, well, they are not dealt with to my full satisfaction. I get it, the writers can't let their characters mull over every impossible decision they have to face, lying, cheating, breaking laws to cover up tracks and all that. And yet I expected them to come up with a little more than the usual "If I don't do this, they will find out" -justifications. Especially because shining a light on the various aspects of morality is the supposed flagship of this series.

Following this, I'll give Season 1 a C+. It makes some efforts, but it is not quite there. I am completely aware that TV series rarely arrive at their full potential in season 1. I'll give it more time (and buy and watch seasons 2, 3 and 4 in the meantime).



Breaking Bad from Nlp Edit on Vimeo. The teaser for the first season.

Skyrim: A Tribute

In my dreams I have been a heroine, a queen and a dragon slayer a myriad of times. I killed slobbering trolls, flew over snow-covered mountains, and found hidden treasure buried somewhere in a muggy underground cave. Oh and I was a nudist also, taking long baths in hot water springs. Because in my dreams I am not ashamed of the wobbly bits (mostly because there are no wobbly bits). 

   




I was a magician, tinkering with potions and enchantments. I was a warrioress, busying myself with blacksmithing, until crafting that special armor made from dragonbone. Then I was granted the sword Dawnbreaker and I wielded it against oncoming opponents. It did as its name implied, it broke dawn just as well as bone.

Fans of fantasy and world immersion, don't take a pass on this one. You may not yet know that you are tailor-made for the world of Skyrim. You may not realize what it was that you were missing from life, stories or other RPGs. Your empathic heartstrings will be tingling with joy: because this is the moment you become what you knew you were in your heart all along. It doesn't matter if you play it with or without the Add-On, the experience of being in an open world has never been closer to the dream. And when you're walking in the meadow with your light leather boots and the crickets chirp beside your feet, you will feel it, and breathe it and witness this spectacular world come alive with your own eyes.

And I mean, come on, 30 bucks for living the dream? (And another $ 7,99 if you should decide to go for the Add-On) This is a reasonably priced investment, if you ask me.

Newtown

I am thinking about what words can do, in a crisis. Can they offer at least some kind of comfort? I don't know. We have had school shootings before, but not like this one, not in this magnitude. Is there a way to explain what has happened to anyone; a parent who has lost a child, or a child who has lost a teacher? We will hear reasons, explanations and justifications over the next few days and weeks. Why the twenty-year-old son of a teacher would do such a thing, what a parent, the surrounding environment, even a whole country failed to do to prevent this tragedy from happening. Why someone missed a red flag. Don't listen too closely. We have no answers. Take comfort in the fact that this is the exception, the rare event, rather than the rule. Get used to the fact that it is the nature of life to break your heart through the kindness of its sickening ephemerality. Not just now but each and every day. You say that is no comfort. I agree. There is just no way to handle this.

Six Sentence Sunday: Quiet Spectator

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Hi there, Sixers and welcome back! I skipped the whole month of November for NaNoWriMo, so let's dive right back in where we left off last time in my YA adventure The Days Adrift. The three girl fugitives were lost, at the mercy of the sea, until last time, one of them discovered an outpost. This is part #12.


Brita throws the rope towards the plank and wraps it around the brittle pole. Is this real? I sit on deck, stone-still. Underneath the blanket Tams' cold fingers slap my hand as if to say bloody hell, we just got our lives back. Yes we have. I just never thought I'd be a quiet spectator when it happened.

Editing Excerpt

Just a little update as I commence the editing process. Good bye, vomit draft, may we never meet again (at least for this story). I just went over to the NaNoWriMo site and realized it was still the same excerpt of my story posted as there was a month ago...yikes! This will be the new one. For you. Because I like you.

"Cabby slowly moved forward, towards the grime-stained urinal. Another small step. Then another. He snarled. The little bell at his collar rang in that high-pitched frequency Artie had heard once before. He drew the sword. The shadows crept closer but Cabby stood his ground. He anchored his paws firmly into the floor. Like a warrior, Artie realized, and mirrored the stance on his own two feet as best he could. The shadows closed in a ring upon them, and the light of day withered away. Only Cabby, it seemed, shed a warm radiance from within. It was subtle at first, but it grew bigger and brighter, until it illuminated even the darkest corner of the restroom. Once the tiles on the walls were ablaze with light, Artie had to cover his eyes. The little dog was unmoving, ingrained like a statue, yet he shone like a beacon of hope against the nascent darkness."

Jane Eyre Reviewed (Male Edition)

So you're a man, allegedly a hetero man. I applaud you for being brave enough to come here, and see if this story by Charlotte Brontë (actually I'll be talking about the screen adaptation) could possibly spark your interest in this film. Let me just say in advance, that this is a chick flick and a period drama, and it unifies all those qualities you might hate, like stuffy costumes and their reek of sexual suppression as well as people, talking a little old-worldly.

This story is set in a time with a strict social etiquette and inequality in between genders, and I guess it must have been a little retro even for the time it was first published, which was in 1847. 

Jane is suffering the niceties of the all-girl school  (BBC)

I think I don't have to explain to you why this complex of themes drives all women insane. Or maybe I do. Have you heard of Downton Abbey?

The woman of today (roughly around the age of 35) is a bit nostalgic. She tends to miss the olden days, even though she herself is much too young to have lived in those times portrayed. And although she wouldn't trade equality for classism and a large variety of hairstyles for a bun that looks like the remains of a bird's nest, somehow she longs for those days of male dominance. The creators of Downton Abbey gently removed that aspect from their series, to make it more socially acceptable to watch it. Cowards.

Anyhow, the woman of today sometimes wants to be swept off her feet and not do the sweeping herself. Understandably, this must be confusing to you, the man of today.

Let me just say, that Jane Eyre at its core is about bursting the limits of the "stuffiness" outlined above. It abides by the rules of the Bildungsroman, yes, a coming-of-age story, with some elements of Gothic Fiction, also correct. This is the prosaic metre it is set in.

As regards to content, it is an outrageously modern and highly political story. The female heroine in Brontë's world - as in Austen's - is the rebellious type, an outcast and a scandalizer of sorts, coming to grips with her role after having been (socially) disadvantaged. It is as much about escaping those prison walls as Shawshank Redemption, all the while about a character behaving with moral integrity, like Forrest Gump. Over the course of events the heroine finds out that she herself sets the rules and conventions for the society she wants to live in, not men. And more importantly she learns that the moral compass she acts by is a good one.

Now, I can see that you may find that pointless, because to your male understanding, the world already is like that, with women doing what ever the hell they want. But let me remind you that women are still coming to terms with the concept of equality. And it is important to us to a) understand how it got to the point and b) remember from where we started. Because there may have been some advantages not having to be in charge all the time. We see that now, and sometimes we miss it. That's why we look back. And that's why it took us so long to get where we are now.

Grown Jane, the governess (BBC)

*Please refrain from the 2011 movie version. Yes, Fassbender and Wasikowska are all the rage these days. Unfortunately they didn't get what they were supposed to do - be convincing in their roles. Contrary to the rest of the world and critics I found this movie appalling, to be honest. It seemed like a desperate attempt to cash in on the Downton Abbey hype. And it is directed by the same guy who also did a film called The Adventures of Supernigger. I rest my case.

Get the ->BBC adaptation instead. It has an excellent narrative and a brilliant cast. There are no boobies in either of those versions, so go ahead and get the better one.

Edit: Take a look at Karen de Lange's book recommendation for Jane Eyre. The burtonesque Penguin Edition is designed by the acclaimed fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo, and certainly Christmas gift material.