{"id":11221,"date":"2014-04-13T22:05:27","date_gmt":"2014-04-14T02:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=11221"},"modified":"2014-04-13T22:07:34","modified_gmt":"2014-04-14T02:07:34","slug":"saturday-and-sunday-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=11221","title":{"rendered":"Saturday and Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Yesterday was warm enough to sit out in the yard for a little while, reading Kaleidotrope<\/i> submissions. So that’s what I did. I sometimes worry than I’m being a little too choosy, after I’ve rejected a dozen or so stories in a row, and then one comes along that I don’t want to reject and I think, “Nope. Just choosy enough.”<\/p>\n

After dinner, I watched American Hustle<\/i>, which I wish I could say I enjoyed more than I did. At this year’s Golden Globe Awards, Tina Fey joked that the movie’s original name was “Explosion at the Wig Factory,” which really isn’t far from the truth. There’s some good acting in the movie, but a lot more over<\/i>-acting, and a lot of over-the-top hair and costume design, all in service of a fun but kind of thin story — a very loosely adapted version of the Abscam investigation<\/a>. It’s not hard to see why the film was nominated for ten Oscars last year. But it’s also not hard to see why it didn’t win a single one.<\/p>\n

After that, I watched Area 407<\/i>, which I can’t even pretend was any good. It’s exceptionally terrible, even by the low standards of found-footage monster movies, apparently ad libbed over the course of five days, and man<\/i> does that show! It so very, very bad…and for that reason, it was absolutely wonderful. <\/p>\n

I watched it with friends over Twitter, which is something we do semi-regularly — Heather has a rundown of some of the comments<\/a> we made — and it was kind of magical. Heaven knows I’ve seen my fair share of terrible movies, but every now and then one comes along that’s terrible in all the right ways. This was definitely one of those, and I had a blast live-tweeting it with everyone else.<\/p>\n

This<\/i> afternoon, I went to see Captain America: Winter Soldier<\/i> with some in-person friends. I enjoyed the movie, which is fun and has some nice little moments from its leads interspersed with all the acting — I don’t Steve’s ever going to get to ask out Kristen from Statistics — but there’s not a whole lot to say about it, really. I mean it’s no Area 407<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Anyway, before the movie we had our weekly writing group, and this is what I did:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You gotta write it down,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Trevor Kettleson said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153His speech recognition software isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t working at the moment.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is the robot?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dean asked. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Your investigator?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like that word,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kettleson said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Either one. It would be more accurate to call him a…\u00e2\u20ac\u2122cyborg consultant.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153From outer space?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Kettleson sighed, sat forward in his chair. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153While technically accurate, detective, pre-judgmental language like that will only make it more difficult for Roger — \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The robot. Roger the robot.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153 — our consulting cyborg to adequately assist you on this case. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true that Roger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cybernetic components were outfitted on a space station orbiting an abandoned planetoid, but the fact that this all happens three hundred years in the future — \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not here to prosecute your cyborg, Mr. Kettleson,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dean said, all smiles, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153just trying to get a lay of the land. Everyone who came through the time vortex was granted immunity, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the law. How I feel about it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It might matter to Roger,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kettleson said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll try not to step on anyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s toes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dean said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Especially if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re made out of titanium.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our firm has the utmost respect for Roger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s investigative skills. I urge you to turn to him as an asset.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He just doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t talk.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, he talks. He just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t process speech presently. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing everything in our power to remedy that, but…well, we are talking about technology three centuries more advanced than our own.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And was Paige Caldwell working on this remedy?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Was — ?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dr. Caldwell. The victim. Was she spending a lot of time working directly with Roger?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well…I — it was<\/i> one of her projects, yes. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a team effort. Certainly you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what got her killed, or that Roger — ?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You said yourself she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any enemies.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That I knew of, yes. But, detective, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very wide leap to naming Roger as a suspect<\/i>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just thinking out loud, Mr. Kettleson\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dean said. He stood up and moved towards the door. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If I start making allegations, believe me, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll put them in writing. I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want Roger to miss them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Three hours later, with the cyborg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pneumatic-powered hands at his throat, Dean Hendricks thought he might have made a mistake.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Make it look good,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he croaked. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We need her to think you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re really trying to kill me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Silently he cursed himself, remembering Roger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speech recognition problem. He just hoped the cyborg remembered the plan. Those steel-tipped fingers were pretty tight around his windpipe. But they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to flush Caldwell out of hiding if they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t put on a good show.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that, pretty much, was my weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday was warm enough to sit out in the yard for a little while, reading Kaleidotrope submissions. So that’s what I did. I sometimes worry than I’m being a little too choosy, after I’ve rejected a dozen or so stories in a row, and then one comes along that I don’t want to reject and … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4,14,28,12],"class_list":["post-11221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-kaleidotrope","tag-movies","tag-personal","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11222,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11221\/revisions\/11222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}