Moe Lane's Blog, page 635
November 23, 2021
NaNoWriMo, Day 23: 2,140 /46,660.
Went well.
Patreon!We had told The Process that it didn’t have to wait for an invitation to talk for this meeting, so it smoothly chimed in. “There is some indication as to where the data packet did come from, Lt. Commander. Executive summary: our theory is that the packet was implanted in 4-9-43’s data storage during its last port of call, and designed to execute during routine docking operations. Evidence for this: the last transmissions from 4-9-43 show anomalous metadata rapidly spreading through the ship’s communications system, consistent with malware commonly used by anti-colonization terrorists. 4-9-43’s last port was the regional center Afa, which has had a perennial if low-grade problem with death cults for the last five years. Conclusion: perhaps one of those groups acquired access to 4-9-43, and successfully left a time-delayed malware in its systems.”
Burcu narrowed her eyes. “I remember Afa. From three years ago; the ship I was on had to assist in cleaning out a cell of the League of the Viridian Triangle. Absolute fanatics, they were. The kind who would, if they knew they were dying, cast themselves into a well in order to poison the water. And they did have a taste for malware.”
Greg stirred. “That’s one of the groups on the list. Along with the Order of Truth, the Bureau Désavoué, and the Galactic Pioneer Scouts.” An involuntary shudder went around the room at that last name. Even Burcu looked slightly alarmed. “Exactly. Sabotaging an innocent cargo freighter and the people trying to offload it is exactly the sort of thing any of these bastards would do.”
I have applied for a vendor table at Farpoint 29.
Farpoint is an experiment: I’ve seen what kind of business I can do at the smaller venues, so now I’m ready to try a larger one. It is also an opportunity for me to get out of the house for a few days, which is something I should probably be doing more of. And selling at conventions was always part of the plan.
So, we’ll see!
Moe Lane
PS: If you can’t wait… buy my books!
Holiday posting (more or less continues) tomorrow.
I mean, NaNoWriMo’s been wrecking my schedule anyway. But it’s Thanksgiving week, so it’s only gonna get crazier. If I don’t tell everybody to have a good holiday: have a good holiday.
Quote of the Day, Things That Make You Go, ‘…Crap.’ edition.
Do not want: “One of the company’s newest hopefuls in the arena is Mass Effect. Amazon Studios is nearing a deal to develop a series based on the best-selling sci-fi video game franchise from Electronic Arts.” …God help us all. I’ve always smugly watched other people’s favorite video game franchises crash and burn when they’re brought to the big screen; but I never thought it would happen to me. Clearly, this is a judgement upon my sins.
#commissionearned
Moe Lane
PS: Yes, Bioware is dead to me, too. It still pains me to see this.
November 22, 2021
NaNoWriMo, Day 22: Bye day.
I kind of had a half day off today, and writing right now feels like a chore and not a pleasure, so I’m not going to force it. I’ll hit the target number of 50,000 without question, and can still make it to 60,000 if I push it. If I do, I do.
My mini-review of GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE.
Short version: what a charming film.
Slightly longer version: The GHOSTBUSTERS franchise has always had a problem with its movie sequels. The first one was largely unnecessary, and the reboot was… contentious. But GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE succeeds where the other two failed as an entertaining movie with fun stuff with it. It’s not exactly deep. In fact, it follows much of the plot of the first movie. But people were happy while making it, it shows, and…
[Spoilers! Barely]
…it takes full advantage of a genuine emotional resonance: Harold Ramis isn’t there. This movie can’t exist without that melancholy detail. The riddle of Egon Spengler – why he left, where he went, and why he died – informs the rest of the film, and gives it just a little more heft than you’d expect, going in. They handled it well. You should see this in theaters.
It Did Not Suck.
Moe Lane
#commissionearned
The COSMIC DAWN trailer.
COSMIC DAWN doesn’t look half bad. I originally had some comments about the likely budget, but I deleted them. I absolutely know what it’s like to have liquidity issues.
November 21, 2021
NaNoWriMo, Day 21: 1,690 / 44,520.
Got a little bit of a groove going.
Patreon!“Well, once I realized the diagnosis was botched, I went looking at the rest of the reports, to try to figure out what had caused it. And there was nothing. At least, nothing inconsistent with the false diagnosis.
“But I saw that Chook had actually printed out a copy of the patient informational summary you give with medical diagnoses. The full version of those usually don’t get kept, because they’re literally just definitions of terms and standard descriptions of procedures, but since there was a hard copy for once, I went to go find it.” Maki opened up her bag and pulled out some papers. “I can’t do the text injustice. Here, read it yourself.”
I started to read — and wished I hadn’t. As Maki said, informational summaries are just there to give you a nice, soothing data dump. We’ve had a century’s worth of desperate linguistic research to learn how to do that better, because it’s a damn scary universe out there and every insight on how to calm people down pays dividends in human lives later. Some cultures are good at war, or science, or art; ours is good at keeping people from losing their shit.
These words weren’t designed for that. They were designed for the opposite of that. The word choice, the slightly nonstandard font, even the punctuation and spacing — they matter. Behold the wonders of our modern age! Weaponized linguistic programming.
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE had an above-expectation opening.
Looking good for when I eventually see GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE, although I don’t agree with the very last part here:
Ghostbusters: Afterlife earned a huge win in its first week of release, raking $44 million from 4,315 theaters (following a robust $4.5 million midnight showing), well above industry projections that expected the Jason Reitman comedy to kick off its run with around $30 million, according to Deadline. Considering the extremely positive audience reactions — 96% on RottenTomatoes and an A- CinemaScore — the long-awaited sequel looks like it will enjoy a nice run through the holidays (and hopefully pave the way for a sequel).
I don’t particularly want a sequel. I might actually change my mind when I do see it, but the thought of a sequel doesn’t thrill my soul. An interesting callback to the original will suffice.
