The Wildest Month Of The Year

That statement likely only applies to writers. Still, for the first time, I am taking part in NaNoWriMo! I began to plan for this in the summer time and I have to admit, I use the word "plan" in the loosest way possible. I decided that I would partake, and I decided on my vague plot immediately. Since then, my plot has stayed mostly vague.

I had a few days of cold feet as October drew to a close. My workload at school is pretty heavy and I've had a problem with scholastic avoidance this semester. Is this going to be another method for me to avoid what I have to do? Maybe. Right now, I'm promising myself that it'll be homework first, then the novel. If I don't finish the novel, it's not the end of the world. There is always next year! The point is that I'm trying.

Plenty of people have given me great advice about organizing for the amount of writing I'll have to do this month but I think I'm going to try it as it is. I have a deep well of "ideas" for this story. I rarely ever forget plot or characters I've created and I have no trouble generating them by the seat of my pants either. Let's see how this method works! I'm hoping to keep up updating here with my progress, so stand by for good excepts or frustrated outbursts.

Hopefully by the end of the month I will present to you The Lost King of Hyde Point.

This Is My Reality

I was going to make this entry a review but I think it's better served as an opinion. I'm here today to talk about the world's greatest friend. You know the one, the one that lets you just sit and not talk. The faithful babysitter of your childhood, or perhaps your children. Nothing quite fills up with panic like those days when our friend is not available. I am talking, of course, about cable television.

I know there as many different indulgences on t.v. as their are stars in the sky but I have a growing love for so called "reality t.v." that I want to talk about. We're in a state of program limbo right now. The lame summer seasons are drawing or drawn to a close, the fall premier rush hasn't started yet. This has left me wandering the Internet aimlessly, looking for some kind
of entertainment. I've settled in to follow two reality t.v. shows that I had never heard of before.


1. Scream Queens - A show that takes ten hopeful actresses and pits them against each other for a role in a horror movie (the season I am watching, the prize is Saw 3D, also known as Saw VII, also known as Dear God, Why Won't They Stop?!) In order to weed out the chaff, three expert judges (actress Jaime King, director Tim Sullivan and acting coach John Homa) put them through the rigors of filming scenes on professional sets with all the hair and gore they can handle. They also get acting class sessions with John Homa to help them prepare for these director challenges. Jaime King also challenges to them little scenes where the girls get to ad lib or be a little creative in order to impress. Their performances during all of these challenges are weighed at the end of the episode and one actress is voted the "leading lady", the others who do well get a "call back" and one unfortunate miss "get's the axe."

I'm not going to lie. The acting is pretty much awful. The special effects are silly. I've watched four episodes of the season and I have the strongest urge to go out and rent every straight-to-video horror movie I can find. And I never rent movies. I don't know what this show is going to me, but it's rekindled a dwindling love affair that I had with campy, cheesy horror. Maybe that's why I love it? It's a gratitude thing? Stay tuned.

2. The Colony - This show is a social experiment, as many reality t.v. shows are. Instead of asking run-of-the-mill questions such as "who could survive in a remote wilderness?" or "is it possible to find love with a virtual stranger on t.v.?" the show asks "can ten people build a post-apocalyptic safe haven for themselves and survive?"

This is it, in a nutshell. They take 10 people, toss them into an abandoned factory and make them scavenge for everything. Water, food, clothing, bedding. They have to secure their factory home and hedge off raiders who come to take their meager supplies and tools. They have to provide security for themselves. I dig that the people involved are doctors, psychiatrists, machinists and the like. I have no idea where this one is going but it's tense. It's clear that the people participating have slipped into their rolls already, half way through the first episode.

This show appeals to me because it's pretty much a game I've played with my friends for years. If the end of the world occurred (with, or without, zombies), what would we do? Where would we go? Who would we take with us? I'm always curious about someone's answers to those questions. Maybe this show will give me some great ideas!

So it's reality t.v. but neither of these shows have anything at all to do with reality. Except success within one's career, and successfully surviving the unthinkable. Hrm.

Review: Spook Country by William Gibson

I started this book just before last Christmas and while I found it interesting, it turned out to be the book that I set aside from time to time to read other, more captivating, works first. I am notorious for loving long novels and this one, though I bought it in hardcover, just didn't have the heft I was looking for. The truth is, though, that I'm a huge William Gibson fan. I always find myself falling for his geeky-cool characters and find his style to be very close to home.

This book's subject matter was just a touch out of reach for me. Though I kept up well enough, I don't imagine that most people would. It's half hacker innovation and part spy movie. Until I picked up this book, I have never imagined the usefulness of "geo-hacking," using the GPS satellite networks to track items, people or even create art, as this book details.

The story is told from the point of view of three very different individuals, all pieces of the story puzzle who are approaching the middle from very different angles. There is Hollis Henry, the ex-lead singer of a moderately famous rock band turned journalist, investigating locative art for a mysterious magazine. There is Tito, a young member of a Cuban-Russian-Chinese crime family who specializes in data smuggling. Lastly there is Milgrim, a Russian speaking drug addict who is being held hostage by a government man who needs his skills to track Tito. All three are working toward a single shipping container. The second string of characters, from Hollis' old band mates to Tito's highly trained family, are just as easy to visualize as these three and I really enjoy them.

I've only read one book by Gibson in the past, his first cyberpunk offering, Neuromancer. I loved Neuromancer and while Spook Country doesn't quite captivate me as much, there is still the strong cool factor that I gathered from his first work. I will definitely read more of his books.

One thing that I really loved about this book was the chapter titles! So many authors seem to let this old art form slip but I always appreciate clever chapter titles. Some great ones from Spook Country that stand out to me are "International Currency of Bad Shit," "Spectacles, Testicles, Wallet and Watch," and "Mongolian Death Worm." I chuckled at these as I found them and it will probably be the most memorable aspect of this book for me.

As for how accurate the information in the book is, geo-hacking and all that, I can't say. It's not something I found easy to research. I thought it was interesting, what I could follow. I also can't really say that the content was all that relevant for my daily life but that's the great thing about cyberpunk. It's near-future enough for everything to seem accessible but still wild enough to spark the imagination.

Down to my recommendation, I will always recommend William Gibson stylistically. However the content of this book may feel like failing to tread water to the those less open to obscure technology.

A New Space

Hello, people of the internet! Welcome to my blog. My name is K J Nelson, I will be your hostess here. Let's get this show on the road!

A little bit about me. I am a 30 year old single Canadian woman. I've traveled and experienced all sorts of careers and social circles in my life. I am post-goth, reformed-raver, hard-rockin', music lover and supporter of underground scenes. I spent so many years up to my eyeballs in strange, that now the normal looks new and refreshing. I've been living in suburbia for three years now and I'm still adjusting. I long for concrete and night skies that never really get dark, just sort of orange.

I'm a student at Algonquin College in Ottawa in the Professional Writing program. I'm about to start my second and last year, and I'm incredibly excited. I'm hoping that by next spring I will have a full time job in the writing world. What that means exactly, well, I can't say yet. Stay tuned!

As far as blogging experience goes, I have kept up several personal and social blogs over the years. Most recently, I wrote about subcultures I've been involved in the writing program's webzine, Spine Online. That project was far more successful than I had hoped it would be and it's the main reason why I've decided to open up a new blog, right here.

So what I hope to bring you here is my unique views on cultures and media. I may investigate cultural sites and groups here that I am not familiar with and let you in on how those hi-jinks worked out. You can expect book reviews because I am always reading, and film reviews because I love them. I am also a fairly opinionated person, and I am prone to writing an opinion piece every now and then. I'll post those here. I'm not sure yet if I will be posting my own fiction. Some mysteries a girl's just got to keep.