But I’ve been excited for Man of Steel ever since I found out Christopher Nolan was involved, even if only as a producer. Plus, with David S. Goyer handling the screenplay, and Zack Snyder directing, there was a lot to recommend the movie.

After actually watching it? This is, hands-down, the best live-action Superman movie* I’ve seen.

I loved the way the movie started, with the prologue on Krypton. It sets up so much: the culture Superman came from, his biological parents, who Zod is, and not to mention the absolutely fabulous visuals and action sequences. I mean, holy shit, I felt like I’d gotten my money’s worth after the first 15 minutes of the movie.

Once we get to Earth, we bounce back and forth between present day and Clark’s childhood in Kansas. The flashbacks integrate his growing up with the man he’s trying to become, and keep the story moving without taking us chronologically through all the significant events of his life. It really shows you what he’s had to deal with, being so different from everyone else, trying to command his insane powers when he’s only six or seven years old.

In fact, the pacing was fantastic overall, which was one of my biggest problems with Superman Returns. Man of Steel never felt like it dragged; in fact, I was surprised to see how much story they fit into two and a half hours. It bordered on almost overwhelming a couple of times, but really, they did a brilliant job with it.

I didn’t expect to like Russell Crowe as Jor-El, but he was amazing. I’m really glad we got to see more of him than we have with Jor-El in the past movies, particularly at the beginning.

Henry Cavill made a phenomenal Clark Kent/Superman. He never came across as self-righteous or smarmy, and he did a great job portraying the struggle to understand himself, his history, and what kind of man he should be. I actually liked him and felt for him. You see the weight of his choices.

And Zod? WOW. He was far from a one-note villain. You actually got to know him, to know why he took the actions he did and why he was so intent on finding Clark/Kal-El. By the end of the movie, I almost felt sorry for him, even as much as I wanted to see him go down. Michael Shannon was great.

I also loved how most of the human characters had a crowning moment of awesome. It was like we were getting glimpses, at least on an individual level, that humans were worthy of the hope that had been placed in us.

I did have a couple of gripes: while I liked Amy Adams as Lois Lane and thought she did a great job overall, the relationship between her and Superman didn’t feel too fleshed out. I thought they made a great team, but the romantic aspect felt a little forced.

And there was a tornado scene that very nearly had me screaming at the movie in the middle of the entire theater. It was easily my least favorite scene in the movie, not because of its significance (I totally got what they were trying to do with it), but because of how poorly it was handled. In fact, considering how important it was, I really, really wish it had been handled better.

Fortunately, the rest of the movie was strong enough that the missteps didn’t ruin it. The visuals were gorgeous (though I didn’t catch it in 3D), and Hans Zimmer once again puts together a fantastic score, memorable enough that it was still in my head the next morning.

Fair warning, though: This movie is loud. I originally thought it was just our theater and so didn’t really think much of it, but apparently other people have had the same issues. I think it’s even louder than normal, because I don’t recall noticing the noise level with Iron Man 3 or Star Trek Into Darkness in the same way.

Much like Batman Begins (which is to date my favorite superhero movie), Man of Steel is about how Clark Kent really becomes Superman. Even if he’s been helping people for years, this is how he figures out what kind of man he wants to be and how he wants to interact with the world. Because his human father is right: he can’t stay hidden forever, and at some point, he will have to make those decisions.

If you get a chance, check this one out in the theater. It was well worth the trip, and the audience at our showing gave the movie a hearty round of applause.

*I still think the best Superman movie I’ve seen is an animated one on Netflix called Superman vs. The Elite. It was the first one that really brought home to me how powerful Superman was and how absolutely vital his moral code is to his character. It’s seriously fantastic and if you haven’t seen it, check it out. I beg you.

Header image and thumbnail photograph by Hugh Lee and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

1) Write 30k on the urban fantasy story. (And really, I should think up a title while I’m at it…)
I just broke 23,000 words on it this weekend! It’s coming along nicely, though I’m about to the point where I’ve run out of outline.

An unedited excerpt:

“Breakfast,” Devan said.

“What?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I need breakfast.”

“You just had breakfast. Apparently by eating half the food in my fridge.” Not that there was much food, but…

“No. That wasn’t breakfast. That wasn’t even a snack.” He took a step closer to me. “I am starving, and I am starting to get much less picky about ways to fix that.”

I did not like the hungry gleam in his eyes, and my certainty that he wouldn’t eat me started to evaporate. “Okay, okay, we’ll go to IHOP or something.”

“Awesome.” He clapped me on the shoulder and slipped past me into the living room. “You’re buying.”

2) Read at least 4 books.
Pretty much the same place it was last week.

3) Revise first 3 chapters of TSB.
Same place it was last week.

4) Post 2-3 times/week on the blog.
Still doing good on this. I have another couple of posts scheduled for later this week, too, plus I’ve got one up on the RRFS blog today.

5) Finish crits on Cloudy for Eris. (NEW)

For two, it’s a movie about the tech industry—which is my day job—and Hollywood is notoriously terrible about how they handle pretty much any and all computer-related things. So it’s also an invitation to an hour and a half of resisting the urge to scream “COMPUTERS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY” in the middle of a crowded theater.

However, there are certain things you can do to get me to see a movie like this. One, take an actor I really, really like.

STILES!

Two, put him in glasses.

Like so.

What will inevitably happen is I will come out of some kind of fog at the theater, movie ticket in hand, wondering why the hell my bank balance is $10 lighter.

Which is almost exactly what happened to Eris and me on Sunday.

Thankfully, The Internship was pretty entertaining; I laughed more than I expected (though yes, I did bury my head in my hands several times). *

However, it really wasn’t as good as Wedding Crashers, and frankly, it’s kind of strange to watch a movie and realize you’ve spent two hours basically watching other people do your job.

Nick (Owen Wilson) and Billy (Vince Vaughn) are best friends, salesmen, and very, very good at what they do. So they’re understandably surprised when the company they work for closes its doors, the owner retires to Florida, and they’re left without jobs.

Billy, always the one with the big ideas, gets them an interview for a summer internship at Google (that could possibly lead to a job), and thanks to some quick talking, they actually get in. But they’re competing with hundreds of other kids who are twice as smart as them and much more comfortable in the tech world than Nick and Billy are. Can Nick and Billy make their old-school skills relevant in this strange new world, or will they be left behind?

First off, the tech stuff—not nearly as bad as I feared (probably in a large part because Google had their name all over this). The parts that made me cringe were supposed to make you cringe (at least, I hope they were), and they, for the most part, glossed over anything more technical than a few mentions of HTML5. (This was kind of a relief.)

(I also had a lot of trouble believing that two 40ish-year-old guys would be that clueless about the Internet and online stuff, but when I mentioned that to Jessica, she gave me a horrified look and assured me it was very possible. She spends more time talking to people about this than I do. )

For the most part, I liked Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in this, though Vaughn was a little more hit or miss for me. Sometimes his stuff was hysterical, and other times I just wanted to beg him to stop talking. Nothing in here was as clever or memorable as their stuff in Wedding Crashers, except perhaps for the very, very beginning, when they’re listening to Alanis Morissette’s Ironic to psych themselves up for a sales meeting.

And really, it surprised me how much I enjoyed the sales scenes, particularly the ones near the end. I think it’s because I’ve been involved peripherally in enough of those meetings to understand the feelings on both sides, hearing the objections and scrambling to deal with them. An odd thing to click with, but there you go.

But once you get past all the Google stuff, The Internship sticks close to the standard underdog story formula. The interns are all split into groups and must compete in various contests, and the group with the highest score will be the ones offered jobs. And of course, Nick and Billy are left with the outcasts.

Watching the movie, it was far too easy to mentally call out what was going to happen next. Heck, even if you’ve seen the trailer you can make a fairly educated guess as to how things are going to go.

It’s not impossible to overcome predictability, but if your story is hitting all the standard beats, you’ve got to find a way to twist it up just a little bit. It’s for this reason that one of the best bits, easily, is the Quidditch game, which almost had me rolling on the ground. Unfortunately, except for another couple of scenes, the rest of the movie wasn’t quite as clever about surprising the audience.

So, overall: not as bad as I expected, but still not as good as some other comedies Vaughn and Wilson have done. I saw it at a matinee and feel like I got my money’s worth, though with movies like Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Man of Steel in theaters, it’s difficult to advocate seeing this one before it hits DVD.

* Of COURSE I loved Dylan O’Brien in it. What, was there a question of that? Then again, I’m pretty sure I could watch him make snarky comments for two hours straight and be perfectly happy… Actually, I know I can because I’ve chain-watched six episodes of Teen Wolf in one sitting.

Header image and thumbnail photograph by Hugh Lee and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

This weekend was another busy one, with Eris’s Marvel-themed birthday all day Saturday. (Go say happy birthday to her!) Seriously, we started watching Iron Man at 10:30 a.m.

Also, there were mimosas. It was awesome.

Anyway. Goal updates!

1) Write 30k on the urban fantasy story. (And really, I should think up a title while I’m at it…)
My word count on the actual story is 17,733, and I think I’m about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way through. And then there are the three random short scenes I wrote (same world, same characters, post-novel continuity) that total about 4,500 words.

Why? Because apparently I can’t actually write a novel without writing random scenes about what happens AFTER.

And you get an unedited excerpt, as well:

“Why the hell should I help you?”

The werewolf loomed over me. “Because if you help me, I can forget you were ever here.”

Shit. Visions of a trespassing charge danced in my head. “You wouldn’t tattle to the wizards.”

“If it would keep them off my back so I can find this thing? You’d better believe it.”

“You’re bluffing,” Mick said.

His smile was almost genial. “Try me.”

Mick hissed softly.

I was about to be stuck between a wolf and a snake each trying to out-intimidate the other. Fantastic.

2) Read at least 4 books.
Pretty much the same place it was last week.

3) Revise first 3 chapters of TSB.
Same place it was last week.

4) Post 2-3 times/week on the blog.
So far, so good. I have two other movie reviews that are half-written, so I’ll have to finish them up and schedule them for later this week. (Plus, I’ve got a post for the RRFS blog that needs to be edited and uploaded.)

5) Finish crits on Cloudy for Eris. (NEW)
Done and delivered on Friday.

The first book, Etiquette & Espionage, came out earlier this year, and I snapped it up the second I got a chance. And I enjoyed it just as much as I hoped I would.

Our main character is Sophronia, a 14-year-old who is far too curious (and not nearly ladylike enough) for her own good. When her mother finally despairs of ever getting Sophronia to be presentable, a solution appears in the form of Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. In less than an hour, Sophronia is packed off to the school to, at the very least, learn to curtsy properly.

What Sophronia finds, though, is that Mademoiselle Geraldine’s isn’t just any old finishing school. The girls there are being trained in covert operations, as spies and assassins.

But the finishing school isn’t the only surprise for Sophronia. Someone at the school has stolen something very important, and there are a lot of very powerful people who want it back. Sophronia’s first year at finishing school promises to be an interesting one.

We have a whole slew of brand-new characters, a couple of old familiar faces, and a whole slew of new settings, not the least of which is the Finishing School itself.

“My goodness,” said Sophronia. “It looks like a caterpillar that has overeaten.”

And it did. It wasn’t so much a dirigible as three dirigibles mashed together to form one long chain of oblong, inflated balloons. Below them dangled a multilevel series of decks, most open to the air, but some closed off, with windows reflecting back the dying sun. At the back, a colossal set of propellers churned slowly, and above them billowed a massive sail–probably more for guidance than propulsion. A great quantity of steam wafted out from below the lower back decks, floating away to join the mist as if responsible for creating it. Black smoke puffed sedately out of three tall smokestacks.

Sophronia was enchanted.

Allow me to reiterate that:

AIRSHIP. ASSASSIN. SCHOOL.

It is just as cool as it sounds. Sophronia, being a very curious character (and being at a school that encourages such things as long as you can get away with it), spends much of the book exploring Mademoiselle Geraldine’s and all its myriad nooks and crannies. It’s fascinating, and I loved what we got to see.

Sophronia herself is a great deal of fun. She’s such a proactive character, clever and quick on her feet, and usually the one to figure a way both into and out of trouble. I really enjoyed being in her head and watching her figure out the mystery at the school.

(Also, I read Bumbersnoot as a steampunk K9 from Doctor Who. I think that actually makes it a little better.)

Plus, as a fan of the Parasol Protectorate series, it was great to see the younger versions of characters I’d come to love from those books. Each familiar face made me squeal with glee, but they’re introduced in such a way that you don’t have to know anything about the previous series to enjoy them.

Carriger’s writing is, as always, an absolute treat to read, with a perfectly hilarious and Victorian voice that makes her novels so much fun. Between that and the amusing character names, I don’t think I quit grinning throughout the entire book.

If I had a quibble, it would be with the final fight scene. I was a little confused at times about what was going on, and I was surprised Sophronia could slip in and out of it as well as she did. But the rest of the book was good enough that it didn’t really affect my overall enjoyment of it.

If you like steampunk, you really need to read this book. If you’ve never read a steampunk novel, then Etiquette & Espionage is a really good place to start.

Go check it out!

In moderately related news, apparently Eris has now gotten Lissa watching Teen Wolf.

This pleases me to no end.

So here’s a picture of Derek working out. Because of reasons.

Header image and thumbnail photograph by Hugh Lee and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Particularly since most of Friday night was actually spent glued to the TV/weather radar, watching as May decided to close itself with a bang.

Words cannot express how grateful I am to have a house that’s undamaged, and how much my heart has been breaking for those who weren’t so lucky. I spent a lot of time this weekend praying and obsessively refreshing Twitter and Facebook, waiting to see my friends in OKC and elsewhere check in and make sure they were okay. (Thankfully, they were.)

And then most of Saturday was spent first with Rebekah for her birthday (It was awesome!), and then with Eris, watching the last half of season two of Teen Wolf (season three starts tonight!), which proceeded to yank my heart out of my chest and stomp on it. Then it threw a shaker full of salt on me for good measure. I spent the last three episodes clutching a pillow to my chest, clinging to Eris, and trying not to bawl like a baby.

Then yesterday, the Rabid Rainbow Ferret Society blog launched!

Yes, this is the new blog project I was writing posts for during #WriteMotivation last month. Six of us (friends, writers, critique partners) decided to start blogging together, talking about our personal writing journeys and sharing any helpful tips we find along the way.

We’re introducing ourselves this week (MEET THE FERRETS!), with regular posts starting the week after.

…Holy cow, this weekend was busy. No wonder I’m tired.

Anyway, time for the actual goal updates!

1) Write 30k on the urban fantasy story. (And really, I should think up a title while I’m at it…)
I’ve written about 3,000 words so far this month, which brings me to chapter 4 and my overall word count to about 9,000.

Guys. I kind of love this story right now. Connor (my MC) is so freaking awkwardly adorable and I am screwing him over SO BADLY. Would you like an excerpt? OF COURSE YOU WOULD.

She stomped her foot against the glass floor and it rolled like wave, tossing me back again. This time, when I hit the wall, the only thing I felt was the pressure of it.

Good news: I was right next to the door.

Bad news: The floor was cracked irreparably, and the entire room bent toward the center.

I slapped at the door, fumbling desperately for the ward alarm with an arm I couldn’t feel before three dozen volatile spellbooks and I went toppling into the basement.

2) Read at least 4 books.
I’ve started Mine to Possess by Nalini Singh (a sci-fi romantic suspense; part of a series I LOVE) and The Wind Merchant by Ryan Dunlap. The Wind Merchant is a steampunk novel and Ryan is a member of my NaNo group, so I am looking forward to reading this one.

3) Revise first 3 chapters of TSB.
I have a general idea of what I’m doing to revise them (rewrite them from my MMC’s viewpoint), but I haven’t started on this yet.

4) Post 2-3 times/week on the blog.
This counts as one, right? I have at least two book reviews and a movie review I want to write, so if I can drag myself away from my UF long enough, those will get posted in the next couple of weeks.

5) Finish crits on Cloudy for Eris. (NEW)
Yes, I completely forgot to add this one to my list when I signed up. I promised to have this back by the end of the month, so it’s a goal. I’m about 40% of the way done, so hopefully I’ll be able to get this completed quickly.

Header image and thumbnail photograph by Hugh Lee and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Here are the goals for next month:

1) Write 30k on the urban fantasy story. (And really, I should think up a title while I’m at it…)
2) Read at least 4 books.
3) Revise first 3 chapters of TSB.
4) Post 2-3 times/week on the blog.

In other news, my friend Serena has joined the world of blogging over at The Font of Randomness. She is a repository for all kinds of knowledge, but it’s the kind of random knowledge that writers, in particular, can actually USE.

I’ve had conversations with her on a variety of topics, including horses and saddlery, blood loss and injuries, what different flowers actually mean, what reagents to use for a portal spell, and that’s just what I can think of OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD.

Seriously, go follow her blog, because I can almost guarantee at some point she’ll put up a post that answers one of research questions that’s been burning a hole in your head.

So we shall use Numfar’s dance of joy as an illustration.

May’s #WriteMotivation is nearly over, but June’s will be starting up soon. If you’d like, you can sign up over at KT Hanna’s blog.

On to the final goal updates for the month.

Header image and thumbnail photograph by Hugh Lee and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

1) Critique the stories I’ve been sent and get them back to their authors by deadlines.
All of the short pieces I’ve been sent have been returned to their authors, and I’m on chapter 4 of one of the novels. At this rate, I should have it finished well before the end of June deadline.

2) Read at least 4 books.
I finished that up this past week! Here’s the books I’ve read this month:
The Night Circus
Witches Abroad
Monstrous Regiment
The Fifth Elephant

I’ve also started two others, though I’m not sure I’ll finish either before the end of the month. But I hit my four.

3) Write at least two posts for a NEW blog project.
They’re written and now awaiting editing.

4) Start outlining 2008 NaNo Project, code name: SK.
4) Develop UF idea and start writing on it.
So here’s what I actually ended up doing this month:

1) Worldbuilding and character development for the urban fantasy idea.
2) Got about 2k into actually writing said urban fantasy idea…actually closer to 10k, if you could the two short stories I wrote that take place in the world, with the characters, but about a year-ish after the book takes place.
3) Reoutlined the beginning of TSB to fix a plot problem that at least three people (two agents and a CP) have remarked on. (Fortunately, this will not require significant rewriting…she said hopefully.)
4) Started outlining SK, which really means I started writing down what the villain’s plot is and what he’s planning on doing, so I can figure out exactly how that intersects with what the MCs learn and when.

And here’s one of my favorite bits I wrote this week, a conversation between the main character of the urban fantasy and his best friend:

She stared at me incredulously. “You can teleport? Then why were we running?”

I winced. “Because I didn’t know if I could port two people.”

There was a pause. I could practically hear the gears in Mick’s head turning. Then… “And what the hell would’ve happened if you couldn’t?”

“I was pretty sure! Besides, I could see where we were going.”

“Connor, did you just bet my life on pretty fucking sure?”

5) Cheer on everyone else!
And will continue to do so through the end of the month!

Holy cow, I accomplished a lot more than I thought I did this month.

How have you done so far this May? Ready to wrap it up and take June by the horns?

Rebekah has a pretty comprehensive post with links, places to donate, and donation information, particularly if you live in Oklahoma.

And Becca is doing a query/first page workshop to benefit those hit by the storm. Basically, all you have to do is donate and then forward your receipt to her, and you get to have either your query or your first 250 words critiqued. Excellent, yes?

ON TO THE MOVIE TRAILERS.

So within the past week, we’ve had a couple of awesome new trailers hit for a couple of the movies coming out this summer: Pacific Rim last Thursday, and the newest trailer for Man of Steel yesterday.

I am stoked, you guys. STOKED.

Check them out below!

Pacific Rim

Man of Steel

The next two months are gonna be great.

What summer movies are you looking forward to?