Good morning, Readers!

So this book may be published at the end of May.  It's not definite, but it's looking pretty likely.

I'm so excited for its release, guys!  So exited!

I have maps to draw, but most pressing currently is to write the book blurb; that thing on the back that explains what the book is about.

I'm terrible at writing blurbs.  God awful at it.  More so this time, because I'm feeling the pressure to make this book in particular a success.  The blurb must be amazing.  And I have no idea where to start.

That is my project for today.  I know yesterday on Facebook that I said I'd be drawing maps today, but really it's the blurb that needs my attention.  So, today will be spent staring at a blinking cursor on a blank screen.

I really want this to be a fantastic blurb.

First thing I think I'm going to do is bullet point the main themes of the book, and then the main plot points, and then hopefully I can come up with something usable.

Honestly, the writing of the blurb isn't the worst part of this.  It's everything attached to it; the crippling self-doubt, the pressure to make it good, the freeze of anxiety.  Man, it's not fun.

Blurbs and synopses, guys.  They suck.

Okay, I'm off to start stressing!

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

FINALLY, I can get some time to blog about stuff properly.

I did promise a movie review of Ghost in the Shell a while back, so here it is!

My Quickie Review
This movie was beautiful to look at.  Honestly, it was a visual feast.  The acting was mostly great.  The story was.... okay.  They really missed a trick, I feel, when they didn't do more to explore the idea of human-machine integration.  That said, I liked the story.  I just feel they could have done a deep philosophical dive, and they didn't.  Also, yes, I had an issue with representation here, but it turned out to be far more complicated than I thought it was going to be.

My Longer Review
This is pretty plain, all things considered.  Behind the beautiful visuals, the movie is rather bland.  As I already mentioned, they really did miss a trick in exploring what humanity is, and where the line can be drawn, or if it can be drawn at all.  Instead, they went for a much more generic story line.

Don't get me wrong, it was still very enjoyable, but also quite bland.  It was safe, is what I'm trying to say, and in a movie like this, I expect to be challenged.  With movies like this, I don't want safe.  I want strange, and strong, weird and wonderful.  In this regard, the movie disappointed.

Now, as to the representation controversy, this movie did make strides towards some inclusion.  The leader of Section 9 was Japanese, and spoke exclusively Japanese.  That was nice.  The major's mother was also Japanese.  But almost everyone else was white.  The major's shell, the scientists who engineered major's new mechanical body, and the doctor responsible for her care: white.  Most of Section 9, at least those with speaking parts: white.  Though there was one aboriginal Australian and a Chinese actor who both had more than one line, most of the talkers were white.

I have heard people argue that in Japan, the whiteness of the cast was not an issue.  To this I can only say, of course it wasn't.  In Japan, there is no lack of representation of Japanese people in their media.  This is not true of Asian Americans.  And they deserve to star in stories inspired, based off, or created from Asian works.

More to the point, as a white person, I've kinda gotten tired of white people stories in my media; visual media  based on foreign stories in particular.  Call me weird, but I would like to have my Asian stories have an Asian cast.  I'm interested in the world and people around me.  Whiteness is boring.  I live it.  Show me something new, Hollywood.  You are custodians of imagination.  Start imagining!

More to the point, as a white person, I don't need to see a white person on screen for me to empathise with them.  I'm equally capable of empathising with folk of all stripes, because they're human beings and so am I.  Skin colour or sexual orientation is not a barrier.  I wish film-makers stopped seeing it as one.

This isn't to say that any of the white actors didn't do a good job.  They did.  But it was also boring.

Also, there is something about the way Scarlett Johansson held herself in this film that I found bothersome.  I have no idea what it was, but there was something a little odd about it.  I can't put my finger on it.  It may have been a deliberate character choice, given that her body is mechanical.  That might cause things to move a little oddly.  In which case, I'm an awful person who is bothered by the way someone walks.  Still, it was noticeable enough for me to remark upon it.

Finally
This movie was visually stunning, but ultimately disappointing.  Beautiful visuals cannot make up for bland story-telling, and lack of imagination.  I'm not sorry I watched it.  As a distraction for a few hours, it was adequate.  But for a movie like this, adequate is simply not good enough.

Good morning, Readers!

So, last night I streamed The Last of Us.  It started out terribly, with me being unable to find my way for the first forty minutes of game play.  The usual stupid stuff I do.

I died a lot in the following couple of hours, because I forgot how to game, apparently.

And then the whole cannibal sequence happened, and it was intense, and terrifying, and nauseating.  I finished the stream after it ended, with the villain dead, and my stomach rolling.

Seriously, guys.  I was not okay after playing.  I sat in silence for a while.  I just sat there.

​Also, if you cannot love Joel by the end of that sequence:

​

...We can't be friends.

I'm still marking, do that's all I'm going to say, but I have such thoughts on this game.  So many thoughts.

But for now, I have to get back to work.

Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

So, I am rushing to get shit done, still.

I would like to have these exams all marked by tomorrow, as the professor I'm marking for has suddenly found himself with a pile more exams to mark unexpectedly.  The faster I can get these exams done, the less he has to worry about.

For that reason, I'm not going to be bloggging much of anything today or tomorrow.  BUT there are some things you should be reading.  This article by agent Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency, LLC on how not to open your novels/stories is a great one.

Last night was horribly busy even though I feel like I didn't do much.  I managed to edit together 8 videos and did the base editing for six more.  Can I tell you, rendering videos is the most tedious thing on the face of the planet.  I had planned on streaming after I did the work, but it was five hours of staring at a computer screen and I just did not want to do any more of it.  So instead, I went to bed.

I did manage to game a little bit in the morning on Sunday, though.  My kung fu brother Jon came over for some CoOpted fun.  Alas, we did not get to play much because the HDMI input on my Elgato Game Capture device decided to crap out.  We tired to play using the component cable.  We managed two episodes... in monochrome.  It was a disaster guys.

Thankfully, the Amazing Flatmate was able to find a newer component cable for the Xbox, and we can now play in colour.  PHEW!  I was so upset yesterday morning.  The Elgato is expensive, and I'm poor.  I couldn't fathom having to replace it, and that would have been the end of both SMC Awkwardly Play and CoOpted.  Luckily, a newer component cable could be found, it was tested, and we can now play in colour.

In other news, my computer appears to be dying.  The programmes are all constantly freezing, my mouse (pen, actually) is slow to respond, and I am extremely frustrated right now.  So I'm going to stop attempting to internet today and get back to marking.

I promise I'll be more interesting soon.  Or not.  I don't know.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers.

It is no great secret that I love training in martial arts.

I've also not made it a secret that training martial arts changed my whole world.  It changed me.  I went from being chubby, shy, and crippled by anxiety and depression.  I'm still chubby, I can still be very shy, and my depression is as omnipresent as always, but I'm no longer crippled by my issues.  I've become stronger; not just physically, but also mentally.  I feel powerful, centred.

Martial arts has given me so, so much.

It was with this in mind that I agreed to teach martial arts.  I was particularly interested in teaching martial arts to women.  I know from experience that walking into a gym and finding it filled with men training in something that is, by design, aggressive and deadly, is horrifically intimidating.

For the people who have been told all their lives that they can't do something by virtue of their sex organs, sometimes it is enough to have them turn around and go home.

That's a shame, because I know for a fact that women are every bit the warriors men are.  History is littered with examples of women who have taken up arms, from queens, to regular women going a-viking with their husbands, powerful pirates who've built pirate empires, or mothers razing cities to the ground in vengeance.

It is evident in the women who fight every day; fight to be seen, to be heard, to make their worlds better.  They are the ones who continue on, despite the constant deluge of disrespect, disbelief, and erasure.

Still, she persisted.

Martial arts helped me find the warrior inside myself; the one who was screaming to be let out, who lashed out, wild and uncontrollable.  Martial arts gave her a voice, a way to be seen, and the wild destruction of her rages has calmed.  Anger and helplessness have transformed into strength and calm.

I wanted to give that to other women.

Last night I went out to dinner with a few of my kickboxing students.  The semester is over, and one of my long-time students will be leaving us to return home. It turned into quite an emotional night, with these gorgeous souls expressing how much kickboxing has changed their lives.

I saw in their stories mine reflected almost perfectly.

It was so, incredibly beautiful to see, and so deeply humbling.  Through the tears and the laughter, it struck me that I succeeded, even if only a little.  I helped these women find their light.  And what an incredible light!

Guys, I did good.  In this at least.

It's important to note that I did not turn these women into warriors.  The warrior was there already.  All I did was try to help them see her.

I was too overwhelmed last night to cry, but I'm crying recalling it.  I'm just so touched by these women, and their stories, and so grateful to have played a part in them.  I love my ladies.

Watching these women bloom has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.  Hearing their stories has reaffirmed my love of martial arts, and my belief in its value.  I hope it's something I get to do for a long while yet.

Good morning, Readers!

I had hoped to take today, at least, off.  Maybe write a long blog post about some of the thoughts swirling in my mind.

That will have to wait, alas.

Yesterday i received the final exams I am to mark.  So now I have to get back to marking.  Which means another short blog post.

I'm really sorry.  I'll try and be more interesting soon.

Today, I'll be drawing maps.  Just in case my publisher wants to include them in Daughters of Britain.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

After a beautiful four days of mostly rest (with yesterday being a complete bust, thanks to feeling very under the weather), I'm back at work and still stupid busy.

I'm not sorry I did no work over the four day long weekend of Easter, but I am paying for it now.

So, once again, I have to have a short blog post.  If you have a couple of hours to spare, you can watch the live stream I ran last night.  I'm particularly proud of this one.  I kicked arse... until I had my arse kicked.

It's up on Twitch and you can watch it here.

Once all my other stuff is done, I will have my schedule back to normal and will hopefully have more interesting blog posts for you.  I'm sorry these ones are so dull.

Today, incidentally, I have to send out a bunch of review requests that have been pending since the first of the month, then it's off to my Chiro appointment, and then I'm going to the University of Ottawa to help proctor an exam, and thence, if it doesn't run too late, off to training.

It's the last week of martial arts before a short break, and I'm really keen on getting in some sessions.

And now I have a bunch of shit to do, so I must dash.

​Ciao!