Man of Steel: A Movie Review

Finally watched Man of Steel last night. There were four things I really liked about the movie.

1) Henry Cavill. Need I say more?

2) Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Russell Crowe, and Laurence Fishburne in their roles.

3) Krypton (Superman’s home planet) being destroyed by mining its core. This is my own crackpot theory about the increase in earthquakes on this planet. It felt nice to be validated.

4) Young Clark Kent having a meltdown in his fourth grade (?) class room because of his heightened senses. This is something I working on in my current WIP, so it was good to see a visualization.

The thing I didn’t feel strongly about either way:

1) Amy Adams as Lois Lane. I’m indifferent to Amy Adams as an actress. I’ve seen her in roles I’ve loved and roles I loathed. She just didn’t do it for me as Lois Lane. I didn’t hate her in the part, but I didn’t believe in her, either.  In my opinion, the best Lois Lane was Teri Hatcher (Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman).

The thing I really hated about the movie:

1) The script. The plot. Whatever.

SPOILER ALERT (DO NOT READ PAST HERE IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS)

A) I have never made bones about how much I despise special effects for the sake of special effects, and this movie has them coming out the wazoo. I felt DC was competing with Marvel for movie bragging rights. Epic fail. Actually that’s what I hate most about Marvel movies, too. Whatever happened to the element of story in movies? Oh. Right. Action adventure doesn’t need enough story/plot to carry a full 2 hour movie, not in this day of computer graphics.

B) I do not have problems with resetting canon. I adore the reset in the Star Trek movies (although I really didn’t think it was that much of a reset). I don’t mind the changes in Superman’s history. I wish I’d thought of the Civil Defense shelters myself when Superman came back from being dead. But Lois Lane knowing Clark Kent is Superman’s disguise from the get-go? As the old cheer from my junior high school days went: no no never never uh-uh uuuuuuh. What is the point? To make Lois & Supes a crime-fighting team? Castle and Becket? Please.

C) I wish Superman would focus more on “truth and justice” than battling extra-terrestrials. That’s why he was the hero of my childhood. Without truth and justice, we will never be able to cope when technology finally does come for us.

 

 

 

INTRO: WORK IN PROGRESS (WIP) WEDNESDAY

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Starting next week, I’m going to be hosting authors of all genres on my blog in a feature I’m calling Work In Progress (WIP) Wednesday.  To give you a taste of what is to come, I’m featuring myself this week. After all, it’s all about me (see far right column).

So here are some things you might not know about me.

On the Personal Side:

My top three dream destinations are 1) Greece, 2) Spain, 3) the south of France. I long for sunshine and warmth (no humidity); these are the lands of olives, crusty breads, hearty red and rose wines. Mary Stewart’s three Greek novels put Greece at the top of my bucket list (My Brother Michael, The Moonspinners, This Rough Magic). One of my favorite books to read in the summer is Peter Mayle’s delightful A Year in Provence.  As for Spain, I remember a line from a poem I read in high school: cinco de la tarde. Don’t ask me why five in the afternoon intrigues me. Maybe because of tapas bars.

My secret talent is the ability to whistle through my rolled tongue, using it as a flute.

The top book on my TBR pile (not counting the Kindle) is Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark, Jr. I heard about it on Facebook and checked it out of the library.

I have a recurring dream in which my family and I move into the apartment in which I lived for 10 years, several years before I got married. A one-bedroom apartment. Love the wallpaper and the claw foot bathtub, loathe the turquoise refrigerator.

If I didn’t write, my creative outlet would be musical in nature . . . I like to sing (even though I can barely carry a tune); I play a couple of instruments and always wished I knew how to play piano.

If I didn’t write, my dream job would be owning a business that catered to people’s religious dietary needs, and I’d call it Kosher for Lent.

If I had to chose a theme song for myself, it would be a toss up between Simon & Garfunkel’s “I Am A Rock” or the Grateful Dead’s “Touch of Gray”.

I have seen two movies I thought were better than the books on which they were based: The Bridges of Madison County and Contact. The main character in Bridges never would have written the letter to her children the author had her write. Never. Ever. So the movie handled that part much better. As far as Contact goes, the book was fiction, written by a brilliant scientist, so it was a little . . . deadly. The movie is also the first time I ever saw Matthew McConaughey (he played opposite Jodi Foster).

I’m not a fan of breakfast, so I tend to skip it more often than not. Eggs are disgusting. I will stop at McDonald’s for Sausage McMuffins and hash browns on occasion; when I’m on a writing retreat, I’ll eat fresh fruit & berries.

On the Writing Side:

My ideal/fantasy writing space would be a big bright room, lots of book cases, a desk large enough for things other than my laptop, a rocking chair in front of big windows. And it would be painted pale pink. And I wouldn’t have to share the space.

One writing-related website I can’t do without is Grammar Girl. She explains the tricky nuances of the English language in a way I can easily understand.

I am a pantser (style of writing), but even though I don’t plot, I do plan.

I do not believe in writer’s block. For me, it’s either lack of motivation (within me) or a plot/conflict issue (with the story).

Three things currently on my desk: my grand-hamster (in her cage); a treasure chest filled with glass florist beads; photos I borrowed from my parents to scan.

Would I ever consider self-publishing? Absolutely, especially once I have a back list in place. In fact, my current WIP is a novella for an anthology my crit partners and I have been discussing.

I listen to music when I write. I create a playlist for each book, which helps me stay connected to the story.

Lightning Round:

Addams Family or Munsters? Addams Family.

Wine: Red or white?  Red

Beer: Can or bottle? Bottle

Stephanie Plum or Eve Dallas? Eve. She’s grown throughout the course of the series, whereas Steph is more comic relief to absurd situations.

Cinco de Mayo or St. Patrick’s Day? Cinco de Mayo. Not a fan of corned beef.

Last movie I saw in a theater: The Winter Soldier. Loved it!

Books: paper or e? Paper!

Favorite band when I was in high school: Bob Dylan and the Band

Introvert or extrovert? Introvert

Favorite ethnic food: Italian.

WIP

Here are the first 10 sentences of my current WIP (tentative title The Mating Game)

He’s staring at me.

Men usually stared at Diana—it came with being a model—but this was . . . different. Uncomfortable. Or maybe she was just tired.

She scanned the crowd at the MEN-toring League Chicago Division award banquet, using the attendees’ faces to tick off the seconds until she could leave the event. She had an eleven p.m. flight to catch and was already feeling the dread. Plus her overworked body was doing some kind of meltdown thing, which concerned her. Prickles and heat raced through her. The symptoms resembled what she’d heard about influenza, but the flu was impossible.The strange sensation had to be a clue she was overdue for a vacation.

Here’s the buy link for my current release,  Moonlight Serenade, available only on Kindle at this time.

Follow me on FaceBook, Twitter (@comptonplations), and Goodreads

 

 

 

A Side Benefit of Social Media

I have two books out of the library. And you know how I learned about them? Social media.

Image credit: tieury / 123RF Stock Photo

Image credit: tieury / 123RF Stock Photo

My local library branch is going to be closed for the holiday weekend, so I had to make sure I got over there to pick up my reading. Can you imagine a long weekend with no reading material?

I can’t.

So here’s what I picked up:

The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne (a romance novel)

Empty Mansions  by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newel Jr. (biography)

What will you be reading this weekend?

A Moment In Time

I picked my daughter, X-Chromo, up at college the other night. She and the grand-hamster were coming home for the summer. I needed to wait for her to finish up some hall council stuff before we we could start loading my car with her things. As I sat in the lobby, I saw Domino’s delivering pizzas, I saw students of both sexes hug and say goodbye. Several students told me to have a safe trip–I had no idea who they were; while waiting at the car for X to bring out the grand-hamster, I saw another young man driving around wearing a Burger King crown.

I never went to college, so I missed all of this bonding stuff.

So glad she’s having the experience.

Central New York Romance Writers

I am currently president of the best darned chapter of RWA, which is a non-profit trade association of over 10,200 members. My local chapter is Central New York Romance Writers. Yesterday, during our monthly gathering, a new member told me he chose our chapter over another chapter because our website presented a more active organization. Another member told me she went to return to her local chapter, found it no longer existed, but learned many former members were attending CNYRW.

Wow. That’s pretty empowering.

2009-05-09 22.56.00Other members who’ve come to us in the past have told us that our chapter is more exciting than the chapter they left. Other friends, who’ve moved away, say their new chapter can’t compare to CNYRW, so they aren’t as involved.

Yesterday, I sat with three other members on a panel to discuss editing: how we balance the editing life with the writing life, what we look for in a manuscript (well, not me, because I don’t acquire), the differences in various publishing houses. Char Chaffin acquires for the house for which I write and copyedit; Nicki Greenwood used to acquire for another upstate-based publisher, but now does freelance copyediting;  and Kara Leigh Miller is managing editor for yet a third small press.

Such energy! And great questions from the membership.

I’m blessed to have such a wonderful writing community.