Monday, March 18, 2024

A Very Late Monday Movie Mania - Dune 2

I'm not going to do a SPOILERS warning on Dune 2. For one thing, the book by Frank Herbert on which it's based will turn 60 next year. For another, this isn't the first film adaptation of the book. Nor am I going to compare this version to the previous versions.

Director Denis Villeneuve did the smart thing by splitting the sprawling novel into two separate films. The story is simple two massive for one two-hour movie. While Villeneuve stayed fairly true to the book in the first movie, he massively strayed from the story in Part Two.

If Villeneuve does adapt Dune Messiah as Dune 3, how is he planning to fix the problems he's created by altering some of the major storylines in Dune 2?

Problem #1: Paul's sister Alia is the one who kills Baron Harkonnen in the original Dune book. This leads to the Baron possessing Alia, which causes a lot of problems in the two sequels.

Instead, Paul is the one who kills the baron in Dune 2. Alia isn't even born before the end of the movie. Does this mean the baron has possessed Paul in the Villeneuve version? What does this mean for Alia's personality and actions if Villeneuve turns Dune into a long-running movie series?

Problem #2: Paul and Chani's first son Leto isn't born in Dune 2. The baby's death is one of the motivating factors for both Paul and Chani in the attack on the city of Arrakeen.

Again, Leto isn't conceived in Villeneuve's Dune 2, so he isn't born, much less dies. This change doesn't build the bond between Paul and Chani, one of the few things that keeps Paul grounded. In fact, Chani abandons Paul out of anger and frustration at the end of Villeneuve's Dune 2. So, how is Villeneuve planning to get them back together? The Chani he's written isn't going to just walk back into Paul's life, saying all is forgiven.

It's Paul's love for Chani that spikes Irulan's jealousy in Dune Messiah, and sets into motion another series of events. Does this mean Leto II and Ghanima won't be born in Dune 3? Their survival is the reason Paul renounces his throne and disappears.

Nitpick #1: While I'm glad Villeneuve worked in why Gurney hates the Harkonnens, I prefer seeing Rabban getting ripped apart by the civilians of Arrakeen. It's not that I would deny Gurney his revenge, but after the cruelty Rabban inflicted on the populace, it's a more satisfying ending to me.

Generally, I don't have a problem with minor changes or the removal of subplots in movie or TV adaptations of books. However, these a couple of major alterations that will have ripple effects in any subsequent sequels.

Part of me looks forward to seeing how Villeneuve handles the story with such major revisions. Another part worries Dune 3 will suck because Villeneuve didn't think his changes through.


Overall, the stunning visuals and performances still elevate Dune 2 above many other movies in current release at the theaters. I give it 9 out of 10 stars,

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Monday, March 11, 2024

Sad, Sad Moment at the Oscars

This made me cry angry tears last night. So many of DH's work colleagues used to live in Kyiv.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Music I've Been Listening To Lately

The first time I really listened to Taylor was during my move back to Ohio ten years ago. This song was playing often on the radio, no matter what state I was in or the radio station I was tuned to. And I still play it whenever I get a nasty review.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Silence Falls...

...during the U.S. Tax Season.

Yep, I'm trying to get the dang taxes done. The worst part is reconciling all the medical stuff. I try to keep up every year, but invariably, what the Flex Spending Account says we spent and what Quicken says we spent are two different things.

So, don't expect a whole lot from me for the next 5-7 days. DH and I did see Dune 2, so I'll try to put up a review on Monday. Initial thought--the cinematography is fabulous! Definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Music I've Been Listening To Lately

The world seems to be going crazy over Taylor Swift for a multitude of reasons. I have to agree with her. Folks need to calm down.

Friday, March 1, 2024

Fri-YAY!

I'm glad it's the weekend. I need a little bit of stress relief.

Scratch that. I need a lot of stress relief.

I'm not getting any alone time. Unless I'm asleep. Even then, I have other entities in bed with me.

Anyone know of any car shows I can send DH to for a week? Or even a long weekend?

Or maybe I can send him overseas with GK.

Goddess, I miss the days when DH was gone for months at a time because of his job!

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

When Do You Write?

A friend asked me what time of the day do I write. For me, there's no specific time. Some writers need a schedule, and if they can stick to it more power to them.

Unfortunately, I don't have that luxury because there's always something going on.

When I was practicing law, I wrote during my lunch hour and whatever time I could have to myself on the weekends. Which frankly wasn't much because GK was a toddler.

When I stopped practicing law (thanks to high blood pressure), GK was still in public school. It gave me some time during the day between dropping him off and picking him up. It was only about six hours, but I made the most of it I could. The problem? I was still very much a newbie. At that point I'd only finished three novels--one of which will never see the light of day. The other two were Blood Magick and Zombie Love.

Because of our finances, I had to get a job a year after I'd left law. Unfortunately, that was about the time we pulled GK from public school. The public sphere just wasn't working for him. It wasn't working for me and DH either. We were constantly getting phone calls from the school personnel. Neither of us was getting work done.

So, I worked part-time at a Hallmark store, wrote a legal column for a law enforcement magazine, home-schooled my only offspring by myself, and tried to write in whatever spare moments I could grab. By that time, I was making some headway with my submissions, but after reading the full manuscript, the agent or editor would invariable say, "Love the story. Love the voice. I can't sell this."

In the meantime, Amazon was allowing writers to upload their novels in e-book format so Amazon had content for their brand-new e-reader, the Kindle. In 2011, I decided to take a chance. Heck, Maybe trad publishers couldn't sell my book, but maybe I could.

Within fifteen months, I was making more through online book sales than I did at my other two jobs. The magazine crashed and burned during the summer of 2011, and I quit my retail job the summer of 2012.

I had time to write again even though I was still homeschooling. I would get up and be at the local Barnes & Noble when it opened at nine a.m., write for a couple of hours, then head home for lunch and a afternoon of schooling. On weekends, I tried to have the lesson plan and materials ready for the following week, so I could have a little more time to write after GK went to bed. All of this worked because, DH was scheduled for Pacific Time hours with his employer.

During the stresses between having to watch my health, worrying GK, and trying to keep my marriage together, I often had insomnia. On those nights, I'd write until I became drowsy.

At the end of 2012, my father-in-law had a heart attack. About the same time, GK asked about going back to public school. So we made the difficult decision to move from Texas back to Ohio.

DH and GK moved to Ohio in August of 2013 to get GK enrolled in school and for them to help the in-laws. In the meantime, I would do the last little things to get the house ready to go the market. We thought the worse case scenario was I wouldn't have the house ready until Christmas.

It took a lot longer because everything seemed to break after my family drove north. On the plus side, I had plenty of time to write because I had no interruptions and we had weeks or months of saving up for the additional repairs.

Once we were all in Ohio, I was back to writing during the day while GK was at school. Just one problem. DH also worked from home. He had for the last ten years. But now we were in an 1100 sq. ft. apartment instead of a 2500 sq. ft. house. And when DH is on the phone with a client, he was loud!

It didn't help that I was having trouble with insomnia again. I started staying up after DH went to bed and writing into the wee hours of the morning. He'd take GK to school. I'd wake up in time to pick up GK.

But shortly before GK was done with high school, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Which meant I needed to be up before two in the afternoon for various doctor's appointments and scans.I couldn't stick to a writing schedule for a year. I still write, but I did when I had the strength and the quiet.

A couple of years later, GK was off doing Army stuff, and DH and I found a home that would fit our working styles. Our offices are on opposites side of the house. I can't hear him. He can't hear me. For the most part, we are back to a relatively normal daytime schedule.

Except with everything going on in our lives over the past three years, I don't have everything unpacked, and it's driving me crazy. So now, on days I have a morning yoga class, I take my travel laptop with me. After class, I stop at Starbucks for breakfast and an hour or two of writing. Plus, I do writing sprints with some fellow writers for an hour or three in the evenings. In between, I work on the boxes and sort between stuff to keep, stuff for the spring garage sale, and stuff that just needs to be thrown out.

It's probably going to take me the rest of the year to empty the boxes inside the house. Nest year, I'll focus on emptying the storage unit where everything that we couldn't keep in the apartment ended up.

But I may change my writing time depending on the whims of the one true god Murphy.

So what I'm trying to say in this long-winded diatribe is find whatever time to write works for you in your current stage of life. But be flexible enough to change that time when you have to. Good luck!

Monday, February 26, 2024

Tax Season Again!

Nope. I don't wait until April to work on taxes. I can't. Things are too complicated between DH and I owning our own companies in different states over the nearly thirty years of our marriage.

And for a bit, I was terrified that our CPA might not survive his own cancer. I know, I know. I was selfish as fuck, but he knows our stuff inside and out. Ironically, he's one of the few people in my life who's super excited about my writing career.

For those of you who are attempting a career in writng, here's some tips (and NONE of this is financial or legal advice!):

1) Keep all your receipts. If you don't want to deal with a whole bunch of paper, scan them as PDFs in case the IRS has questions.

2) What expenses apply to your business? Cover artist fees, software, formatting fees, editing fees, basically anything that goes toward your writing career.

3) Pay attention to IRS rules. I do everything in a cash accrual basis. What this means is pay for your expenses ahead of time. For example, I'm attending a class Kris Rusch is teaching next January. I've already paid for the class itself, which means I can take the deduction for 2024 instead of 2025. By the same token, most retailers pay me on a 60-day delay, so any money I made in November or December of 2023 isn't paid until 2024. Therefore, I don't owe taxes on it until 2024.

4) Find accounting software, learn how to use it, and keep your entries up-to-date. No one likes this crappy part of owning your own business. I generally do all my data entry every two weeks to keep up. For software, I prefer Quicken, but use whatever you feel comfortable with. GK prefers Excel spreadsheets.

5) Find a certified professional accountant! You may think it's too expensive, but a good CPA is worth their weight in gold.


By the way, don't let your spouse/partner talk you out of proper bookkeeping just because they do your tax return. Sure, writing may start as a hobby, but things can change in a flash. If your other half doesn't know what they are doing or are just plain damn lazy, it's time to find a CPA for both of you.

Or maybe find a significant other who's more supportive of your dreams.

Saturday, February 24, 2024

Love Songs

Best use of a Backstreet Boys song in a motion picture!