Word count for tonight, and other stuff as well

[annathepiper]

Only got Chapter 20 up to 2,715 words tonight, with a total of 267 new words written and a story total of 73,801--but got in some valuable plot discussion with mamishka (who is really great, I must say yet again, for tossing ideas I've already thought of off of, and getting her to reality-check them and help me polish them), risu, and solarbird (who also brought me a couple of welcome reality checks). As a result of this discussion I'm going to have to modify Chapter 19 slightly, because I need to add in an action by a character which is going to have important bearing in Chapter 20. I'd save this for the second draft, except that this is important enough that I think I need to go ahead and put this in. Ergo, watch this space for an updated version of Chapter 19 in the next day or two, with the finished Chapter 20 to follow as quickly thereafter as possible!

Big thanks to Meems and Rebecca and Dara for the plot brainstorming. :D

In the meantime, I went for a third viewing of Master and Commander today, along with veiledpanda. Noted with satisfaction and pleasure that she laughed at all the funny bits, and that afterwards she did in fact attest to enjoying the movie. Yay! Afterwards, invited her to come hang out at the Murk for a bit and we yakked a lot and I played her a bit of Great Big Sea as well as the Grunts' rendition of "Folsom Prison Blues".

Also had a workout--which was entertaining as I'm working back up to using my 20 and 25-pounders now, so I'm getting back into the territory of workouts that feel like actual workouts to the rest of my body as opposed to just therapeutic recovery exercise. My arm gets to feeling a little shaky after lifting the really heavy weights, but that passes. And I've noted with intrigue that over the last couple of days, my arm has had this weird feeling over the point of the break as if I've got a cuff on there. I'm wondering if this is because I am developing more muscle mass and my arm is adjusting to the presence of it, or what. It's not a constant feeling, and it fact it appears to have passed, but I get a twinge or two every now and then.

Lastly, finished off J.D. Robb's Imitation in Death, for light fluffy murder mystery/romantic suspense goodness. I need to read something with a bit more substance now, though; maybe it's time to tackle the fourth Aubrey/Maturin book. ;)

Comments

[veiledpanda.livejournal.com]

*snicker* Oh good! Glad I didn't miss any of the funny bits! And it WAS a good movie! I can see why it wasn't a blockbuster smash hit, but at the same time I can see why it's a good movie and I DID enjoy it. (And the pho!) And it was awesome to FINALLY meet you and Dara! I'm going to have to get myself some GBS tunes of my own - I don't have a huge music collection, but I need stuff either so fast and interesting I can't snooze during it, or else that I can sing along with, 'cause I make a lot of long car trips alone and use the music to stay awake. ;) So thank you!

[annathepiper]

Yeah, M&C is almost too... cerebral, I think, to be considered a proper action movie. Which would doom it for many moviegoers who just want to see things explode. I've heard it described as a "thinking man's adventure", and let's face it, most of the American public would be baffled by that. ;)

Just about everybody I know who's gone to see it has enjoyed it, though--if not because they're Russellgeeks like me and go to see everything he's in regardless, then because they appreciate the realistic naval warfare. :) One other person I know who was a fan of the books before she knew about the movie, jiapa, told me she also really liked it; I take that as a sign that the movie did a dandy job adapting the books.

(On the other hand, mostly everybody I know is a geek, too! So we can appreciate a "thinking man's adventure".)

As for GBS--I'm delighted you like them! :) This means I'll hit you up for attending the next GBS show in Seattle. ;D Let me heartily recommend Rant and Roar, which was the album I played bits of for you, as well as Road Rage, which is their live performance album and which gives a fine, fine idea of how they sound live. There is much satisfaction in hearing a couple thousand people roar the chorus of "Lukey" back at them. :D

[wrog]

I've heard it described as a "thinking man's adventure"

I really liked this aspect of the picture. It was one of the few times in a movie of this sort where I find myself thinking things like, "Hmmm, ocean is pretty fucking big; how the hell do you actually find the other ships when you don't have useful things like radar? And what do you do about it when you do find them and the wind is blowing the wrong way and you can't just fire up the diesel engine, cruise on in and blow them away?"

I'll admit to being really jarred by the references to Nelson, since prior to Trafalgar (1805), Nelson would have been just another random bozo admiral, not an awe-inspiring hero, and afterwards the Brits weren't really fighting the French at sea anymore (since Trafalgar basically sent most of the French fleet to the bottom and convinced Napoleon that he should stick to Army Stuff that he was better at).

And then I find out that in the books, the enemy ship was actually American, not French, that this is really more of a War-of-1812-ish story --- i.e., the movie moved things up by a decade --- and then I go "ahhhhhh..."

Sort of sucks that they felt they had to change that (and maybe they were right, too; brrrrrr).

Great movie, though.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I just found out about that little change myself! spazzkat gave me the hardback edition of The Making of Master and Commander, and when I hit the bit that mentions how the ship is American in the book, I went "WHOA!" The guy from the movie team they quoted swore up and down that they didn't change it out of fear of pissing off American audiences, but rather out of concern that they'd have to spend too much valuable screen time explaining why the hell the British are shooting at US... which I can buy, just because education in history in this country is erratic enough that I can kind of see most Americans just being genuinely confused about this with a story that's not set actively during the Revolutionary War.

Then again, you'd think most people would also at least go "duh, okay, War of 1812". I'm not sure why they chose to change the timeframe of the movie; if that's in the Making of... book I haven't gotten to that bit yet. I'm having a hard time trying to think of a justification for shifting the story earlier in time by seven years. 1805 is much closer to the beginning of the series, as I recall. I suppose the ages of the principal cast might be a factor, but I don't know.

[wrog]

I'm having a hard time trying to think of a justification for shifting the story earlier in time by seven years.

If you want the villains to be French, you have to shift the story earlier. Trafalgar was pretty much the end of the naval war with the French. And by 1812, the French were too busy starving to death on the way back from Moscow to worry much about anything else.

[annathepiper]

Ahhh, gotcha! See previous commentary re: sucky historical education in Amurka. Why no, I don't remember much of my European history from high school, why do you ask? ;P :)

Though I guess I'll pick up more just by reading O'Brian! He's famous for historical accuracy in those books, after all.