Writing by Jana on Wednesday, 14 of May , 2008 at 5:23 pm
This is Nightwish with their video for the song Sleeping Sun.
It makes me feel refreshed the same way eating a grapefruit does.
Yessss indeed.
The sun is sleeping quietly
Once upon a century
Wistful oceans calm and red
Ardent caresses laid to rest
For my dreams I hold my life
For wishes I behold my nights
A truth at the end of time
Losing faith makes a crime
I wish for this night-time to last for a life-time
The darkness around me - shores of a solar sea
Oh how I wish to go down with the sun
Sleeping
Weeping
With you
Sorrow has a human heart
From my God it will depart
I`d sail before a thousand moons
Never finding where to go
222 days of light
Will be desired by a night
A moment for the poet`s play
Until there`s nothing left to say
Writing by Jana on Friday, 9 of May , 2008 at 11:49 am
Batman: The Dark Knight, The X-Files: I Want to Believe (working title, I think) and Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Three franchises that I have loved and been border-line obsessed with since I was a small child. Movie-wise, this will be an exciting summer indeed.
Yes, I am a nerd. Thanks for asking.
Batman: The Dark Knight.
I don’t want to talk about Heath Ledger and how this was his last film. The details of his tragic death have been delved into everywhere ad nauseum, and will be brought up again as this movie is officially released. I will say this though, and it has been said before, but you can’t tell it’s Ledger playing Joker. The voice, the character — amazing.
I’ve been a huge Batman fan ever since first coming to Canada at the age of five. I watched the cartoons, I watched the cheesy Adam West show, and I loved the movies. And I was obsessed with Catwoman. I would play pretend like I was her and in my childhood imagination, I commandeered a huge army of cats. Batman and I usually wound up married by the end of my game. Again — I was a child, this isn’t a recent thing!
Like alot of fans, I was hugely disappointed by cartoonish crap the films were becoming; the final straw being the horrible 1997 Batman & Robin, unfortunately starring the luscious and talented Clooney. Really, I felt bad for George, but he should have known better.
When Christopher Nolan took over and made Batman Begins with Christian Bale, I was in love with franchise all over again. It became the best of the bunch for me, and Christian Bale is without a doubt the best actor to ever play Batman.
The X-Files
The X-Files is probably what piqued my interest in Science Fiction. It was another childhood obsession (I was like 8, or something, when it debuted) that I never quite grew out of. I was also one of the crazy internet fans who would argue different conspiracy theories online and argue over inconsistencies and etc.And I’m going to admit now that I may have actually written some fanfiction. May have.
I stopped watching soon after David Duchovny left the show; as a huge part of the success of the series was the amazing partnership between Scully and Mulder.
The X-Files: Fight the Future came out ten years ago; and now, finally, we have the sequel which apparently is based on events between seasons 4 and 7. Not sure as to the truth on that one. There’s alot of secrecy (read: clever marketing) surrounding this one.
Finally, we have Indiana Jones 4: Kingdom of The Crystal Skull. Say all you want about Harrison Ford being too old, but as far as I’m concerned, even at the age of 97 (or whatever) he’s sexier than alot of guys my own age.
Indiana Jones made me want to be an archaeologist; and, even after I grew up and realized that archaeology equalled a decade of post-secondary education, relatively low pay, and mostly desk work, I always cherished the image of the intellectual adventurer discovering long-buried treasure and secrets.
I rarely — if ever –get excited about big blockbuster movies, so these had better not dissapoint.
Writing by Jana on Thursday, 8 of May , 2008 at 8:33 am
Wow. James Frey has emerged from the Cave of Shunned Literary Aspirations and Tears (yes, it’s a real place) to write yet another work of fiction and HarperCollins is releasing it!
“There will be a lively media response to the book, but we’re publishing it because it is an extraordinary piece of work,” said Jonathan Burnham, publisher of the Harper imprint. “He has a huge number of fans. They will come readily and eagerly to this novel, which is emotionally powerful.”
“One of the most celebrated and controversial authors in America delivers his first novel—a sweeping chronicle of contemporary Los Angeles that is bold, exhilarating, and utterly original.
Dozens of characters pass across the reader’s sight lines—some never to be seen again—but James Frey lingers on a handful of LA’s lost souls and captures the dramatic narrative of their lives: a bright, ambitious young Mexican-American woman who allows her future to be undone by a moment of searing humiliation; a supremely narcissistic action-movie star whose passion for the unattainable object of his affection nearly destroys him; a couple, both nineteen years old, who flee their suffocating hometown and struggle to survive on the fringes of the great city; and an aging Venice Beach alcoholic whose life is turned upside down when a meth-addled teenage girl shows up half-dead outside the restroom he calls home.
Throughout this strikingly powerful novel there is the relentless drumbeat of the millions of other stories that, taken as a whole, describe a city, a culture, and an age. A dazzling tour de force, Bright Shiny Morning illuminates the joys, horrors, and unexpected fortunes of life and death in Los Angeles.”
I must admit, I’m a little confused by whole “celebrated author” thing. He’s really one of our most celebrated authors? What the fuck? And kudos for using “controversial” in the cool, noncomformist sense of the word. Like he’s our wee little literary rebel.
Although I have no intention of actually reading this, I am excited. Mostly because I honestly thought Frey would commit suicide after the way Oprah guilt tripped him on her show. Personally, I would have been in tears. She’s a scary woman.
Good for you Jamie (can I call you that?)
I can only hope a similar scandal will one day help me skyrocket in the bestseller charts and to be mentioned in every literary magazine and blog.
Writing by Jana on Tuesday, 6 of May , 2008 at 12:47 pm
I just got my first ghostwriting job.
The pay is low (what else is new?) and the work demanding, and the hours long (ditto) but I’ve never done this kind of work before so I’m very excited to start.
The most appealing aspect of this particular project is that it’s an ongoing one and it’s creative — no technical writing or copywriting – and there’s some potential for exciting opportunities up ahead with the client on this project and other ones.
I shall have to wait and see how it pans out of course, but this came at the perfect time for me. I’ve been feeling kinda in a rut with some of the writing I’ve been doing, in particular some copywriting that’s becoming monotonous. But this new challenge will reinvigorate me and hopefully that feeling carries over into everything else as well.
HarperCollins has announced the launch of an in-house digital video studio.
They plan to shoot approximately 500 videos annually, and it seems as though the focus is going to be on author’s talking about their work. Trailers for novels themselves will be mostly outsourced.
And the public still won’t care.
I will continue to maintain that this is all a rather lame attempt at marketing that won’t work out in the end. Money can be better spent elsewhere — like in a larger advance!
Writing by Jana on Tuesday, 6 of May , 2008 at 8:09 am
This is my first year watching Lost.
My boyfriend and his roommate are obsessive fans, so yet again; I’ve been forced into more television viewing that I would not have done on my own.
My impressions of the show? Well, I have no clue as to what the fuck is going on.
I’m pretty sure that the writers even are making it up as they go along.
I find the character of Jack really annoying, what with his control freak ways and all.
And what’s with no scar on his stomach in the….um…..flash-forward (?) of last week’s episode? Hm?
Sawyer kinda “does it” for me. But I wish he’d go back to his roots, hair wise that is.
And speaking of hair, Ben’s daughter getting killed off, execution style, was pretty intense. I really liked her character. She had such great hair. Kinda reminded me of my own before some jackass stylist decided to give me the mullet-esque style I’m currently sporting.
People go freaking nuts over this show. It’s pretty amazing, or not really, considering how much crap gets made for television. I think the people who make shit t.v, and the people who get shit books published must pray to the same evil demon god of unwarranted fame — but anyways, my theory, knowing absolutely nothing about the show or what happened in previous seasons: Atlantis. something about Atlantis. Why not?
Writing by Jana on Wednesday, 30 of April , 2008 at 7:46 am
So back to business: I need to diversify my (writing) portfolio! Badly. So I’ve decided to contact a number of NGO’s, charities, and not-for-profits to offer my particular services.
I’ve found a ton of links on Volunteer Match that need “Virtual Volunteers,” and many require writers for web content, newsletters, press releases, articles etc.
It’s working for free, and it’s probably taking on more responsibilities then I reasonably have time for right now, but seeing as how I’ve been wanting to volunteer for ages, and I really do need a more varied portfolio, it’s also killing two birds with one stone.
Should be interesting.
I’ve read some advice out there that states you should aim for including as much as possible in your portfolio, including pieces of work that aren’t your best. That sounds completely messed up to me. I have no desire to show potential clients crap, nor do I think that dozens of articles are necessary, but I do need to show them the full range of my capabilities and talents.
I’m actually really looking forward to this; although, there is a part of me that feels guilty for volunteering only to satisfy my own needs and goals.
(released next week) is described as thus as Amazon:
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