Thirty of Fifty-Two

Movies

The Last Samurai

Ok, so The Last Samurai is the only movie I can think off that I actually like, definitely the only one that I Love. It's such a beautiful story, the violence is an accompaniment of a point, it's not like a lot of films these days where the point is the violence. This movie is trying to tell you a story, give you a look into the past, into a beautiful and terrible culture that is all but gone.

The Last Samurai is about the emotionally broken American officer, Nathan Algren in the wake of the Meiji Restoration era of 19th century japan as the samurai culture mends his many wounds. At the begining of the film Nathan is a drunk advertising guns to Americans in a market place. He's hired by an old comrade to go to Japan and train the soldiers of the Emperor and consequently moves to Japan.

Despite Nathan's objections the army goes into battle early, long before the soldiers are ready. They are undisciplined and cannot fight well. They are routed with ease and Nathan is dismounted and nearly killed by the Samurai that they are facing. They, instead, capture him and take him back to their village.

Nathan spends the winter there, learning their culture, their language, their beliefs until the roads are clear and he can return to 'civilisation'.

The story explores how a broken man can find peace in the strangest of places. It shows the samurai's side of the Meiji revolutions and really makes you think about the points of view on both sides of the conflict.
From Nathan's point of view he's really just re-living the war with the native Americans, but from the other side. Well worth watching.

As I said, it's the only film with Tom Cruise that I've ever loved, and it thoroughly deserves it. Anyone who hasn't watched it yet should do so.

I-Love-Adam-Hills
- James

Up, down, up, down, up, down.

So, yesterday was my birthday! I turned twenty-six! Yup, happy birthday me! I didn't die in the 365 days between my last birthday and my latest one. But it also meant that I didn't blog, which means instead I have to do it on the weekend, which is something I just don't do. I am not pleased.
But alas, that is what is to happen.

SO for a while now a friend and I have been talking about the three peaks challenge in GB. It's three hikes to the top of the three tallest mountains in England, Wales and Scotland. The mountains aren't particularly large compared to the mountains in other countries, Scafell Pike is 987m (3210 ft)  Mount Snowdon comes in at 1085m (3560 ft) and Ben Nevis is 1344m (4409ft). The trick isn't doing all the walks, it's the time limit. they are miles away from each other. There's 465 miles of driving to be done (roughly 10 hours by current driving laws) each of the climes are supposed to take about 5 hours each and you only get twenty-four hours to do it.

I bring this up because during this week my friend signed us up to do it for charity (Royal national Lifeboat Institute and Rescue global I think, but I didn't get a choice in that matter) on the 27th of July.

It should be really fun and exhausting and while I hope I get a job I'm going to have to take time off around then, I can't see myself doing all that and being able to get to work the next day. I just don't work that way!

I have been thinking about what sorts of things I'll need and I'm thinking I should replace my hiking books, get some warmer trousers and one of these bags to carry a bottle of water on each one as well as a couple of energy bars, just in case.

Anyway, it should be awesome, expect me to start asking for sponsorship as soon as I know how!

Going-to-a-book-signing-for-this-on-tuesday
- James

Writers have it hard... ish.

So I've finished my first run of edits of the short story and I'm going through it now for areas I'd like to be worded better and I'm finding myself wondering how many times published authors go through their work before submitting to their agents. I mean, do they finish writing it, send it off to the agent and get a bunch of edits back? Do they finish the book, re-read it, then send it or do they do, on their ridiculously long 400+ page books what I'm doing on my short story, which is something along the lines of;

1. Write story.
2. Edit one; look for plot holes.
3. Edit two; look for areas that could be worded better and re-word
4. Edit four; look for spelling/punctuation/grammar problems and fix them
5. Final read through and send to publishers.

When I was younger I complained abotu books taking ages to come out, but really it's a very lengthly process before the Agent or publisher ever sees it.
This short story for example; I started it  about 2 weeks ago. I finished my first draft about a week ago. I re-read it for plot holes last Wednesday and I'm now re-reading it for wording improvements. (I'm about halfway through). Next I'll read it for spelling and grammar and send it to a couple of friends who will tell me they hate it and I'll shout STFU ITS AWESOME!!! and publish it out of spite- wait, no. I'll get a book cover done (not 100% sure where/how yet but I've got some ideas) and then I'll publish it to Kindle.

And this short story is only 42 pages. most fantasy books, the likes of which I usually read are around 600 pages, maybe a little more maybe a little less but around 15 times the length of my little story which will probably take me a month in total to get on the market.
It usually takes a fantasy author a year maybe 2 to get it out there, at least after the first book. It really isn't all that long when you think about it. I've been working on TLC for 2-3 years, and that's a trilogy of books that I still need to edit.

This is one of those cases of 'the more you do something the more you respect others who do it.'

And Brent Weeks, Brandon Sanderson, Peter V Brett, Gail Z Martin, Jon Sprunk, David Dalglish, Jeff Wheeler, Chris Hollaway, Mark Lawrence, Robin Hobb, Jim Butcher, Joe Abercrombie, George R.R. Martin and the host of other amazing writers that I've read over the years and haven't mentioned - I respect all you guys immensely.

A-meme-before-memes-were-memes
- James

Valentine's Day

So I strongly considered ignoring the fact that it's valentine's day and moving onto another subject, partly because I'm single but also because it's a Christian holiday that celebrates one of their saints. However I put in my atheistic notions about Christmas so ignoring Valentine's feels kind of like I'm raising the birth of a person that I believe to be fictional above the life of actual people (specifically Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni, though there were many more martyrs by the name of Valentyne)

For me St. Valentine's day isn't about martyrs who died to give christian weddings to soldiers who were forbidden or martyrs who died because they were teaching christianity under the oppressive rule of the Roman empire, its just a day that people can set aside in their relationships to celebrate.

Like their anniversary it's a moment when the celebrations should come from both side, the effort should be equal and heart felt. Often it's not, but it should be.

I see Valentines day as an opportunity to be with the one you love, to show them just how much you care despite all the things they have to put up with on a daily basis, despite work keeping them apart or the day to day life keeping you from showing it, Valentines day is an oportunity to make sure your partner knows just how much you care.

I don't know if thats callous or beautiful, and it most certainly isn't the Atheism opinion as a whole. It's just my opinion, my feeling.

Happy Valentines day everyone. I hope the ones that you most care for and who most care for you show you the way you deserve to be shown.

A-Not-Quite-Love-Song
- James