Last Week’s Story:
Once again I failed to finish last week’s story, “Frozen Case”. To be honest, I am sort of intimidated by it; a planet-sized cognitive AI in the far future trying to solve cold case that took place in its distant past. I do plan on finishing it though, either today or tomorrow, as always. I think it will be good when I’m done, though, and worthy, perhaps, of submission after a revision or two.
I think that’s the way all these stories have worked: not too bad, ready for some revisions, possibly for submission. I think, though, that with one exception, I should wait until this commitment is completed before doing to revision/submission thing with them.
Note: I will be going to WorldCon in Seattle in August (will I see you there?) so I may end up missing a week of this process. I’m not sure yet.
This Week’s Prompt:
I rolled a one on the d8, so the prompt is from the Story Engine Main deck; and I rolled a 1 on the d6, so it’s a historical. And I have decided to center it on Irish history, precisely because I don’t know much about it and I love a good challenge. The photo I chose for the featured image in this week’s post is one that I took myself in Ireland in 2005 (I really want to go back at some point!). It’s a steeple in the city of Trim, north of Dublin. I don’t know much about this steeple, but I will learn its history and have my main character start to rebuild it.
Here’s the prompt:
An inspired worker wants to fix a tower, but someone they love will pay the price.
Should be fun! I have a couple of books on Irish prehistory, but this steeple is definitely NOT prehistorical, since it shows a Catholic influence, so it’s definitely later in history.
Ireland is such a beautiful country; full of brilliantly friendly people and ruins and stone walls and greenery. And you can’t swing a dead leprechaun without hitting a cemetery dating to the medieval period. Maybe I should take a week off from work this week to go back?
This Week’s Recommendation:
…is SUPERMAN! Specifically, Jame’s Gunn’s movie of that name that just came out. I just saw this movie yesterday with my friend Dezzy, and xe and I both agreed that we loved it. It’s a much better treatment of the character than Man of Steel and Batman Vs. Superman, even better than Superman Returns, which I thought was pretty good (though I know many people disagree with me on that). Honestly, James Gunn’s take on the character is the best since 1977’s Superman: The Movie from Richard Donner and starring Christopher Reeve.
In this movie, Superman is driven by kindness and humility and his understanding that we as humans are at our best when we embrace empathy and kindness. He is aware of his position as massively more powerful than the people who surround him, but he still embraces his own humanity. He serves mankind. And that is the Superman I know.
Are there elements of this movie that I didn’t like? Of course there are, but I won’t go into them here. But there’s no character assassination as there was in Man of Steel; in this film, Superman doesn’t have a body count.
I just liked this movie, and I’ve even listened to the sountrack a few times, because I liked the music so much! See this movie! In IMAX-3D, if possible, because that’s the sort of experience this film deserves.
In Closing:
I love this meme: In an age of performative cruelty, kindness is punk as fuck. Be punk as fuck.
And that’s all I have to say. Be like Superman. Be punk as fuck.