Everything that has a beginning has an end.

I watched the Matrix Revolutions trailer at work on Friday and I meant to write about it that day, but then the RotK trailer showed up and so I didn't.

I really enjoyed Reloaded a lot. I thought it had problems as a movie, but it was stylish, the fighting was excellent, and it made me think. It made me dig deep and philosophize and analyse and hypothesize in the same way that Star Wars does, where it doesn't matter if the movie is bad or good, only that there's new material to add to the richness of the universe and new fodder for the thousand theories of what might be going on.

Revolutions looks like it will be just as much fun, though perhaps with less speculation as doubtless a lot of threads will be tied up.

( trailer spoilers )

Also worthy of note is The Fanimatrix: Run Program, a short fan film taking place in the Matrix universe, prior to movie canon. For a zero-budget fan film, I thought this was a lot of fun. I was impressed with the stunts and was completely charmed by the Foley. The lighting was pretty murky, though. And they went way overboard with the green cast to the lighting inside the Matrix. But quite enjoyable and worth checking out if you have the bandwidth.

Hey, I liked it better than some of the Animatrix installments.

That is the question.

Writing advice I'm now trying to follow:

Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very;" your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. -- Mark Twain

Writing advice I gleefully ignore:

It's often wise to cut down on verbs of being, replacing them (whenever possible) with action verbs; that'll make your writing punchier.

I loooooooooove the verb "to be". It's my favourite verb. I work those predicate nouns and adjectives as hard as I can. I like the flatness of it, the plainness.

What's your favourite writing advice? Or your favourite advice to ignore?

Stargate S4 Roundup 3

2010
The perfect future turns out to actually suck. And Jack turns into the Unabomber. Who could have predicted that? So, the former SG-1 plus Dr Fraiser decide to change the past. Because things suck on Earth. Without considering that maybe things might turn out a lot worse for another planet or bunch of planets or galaxy or something. I watched this ep early in the week and I have this idea that I meant to mention something about Daniel -- like he looked hot, maybe -- but I've forgotten.

Absolute Power
Maybe this was the ep that Daniel was hot in. He was certainly stone cold evil. Which I liked. That kid was certainly annoying. He just didn't have the gravitas to pull off his stupid dialogue. I loved Daniel's Underground Lair of Evil -- I kept expecting him to ask for "one million dollars!" It was pretty obvious that it was a dream as soon as "one year later" flashed on the screen, but I didn't mind. When Jack pulled the gun and fired on Daniel, I just melted.

The Light
This could have been the "Daniel is hot" ep. It certainly is the most slashy thing ever. I had actually seen this already, on TV, but I was most pleased to watch it again. Besides the amazing "Jack saves Daniel from jumping" scene (the facial expressions!) and the amazing "Jack carries Daniel through the Stargate" scene, I also enjoyed the way Jack bonded with Loran. Loran is my fave kid ever on Stargate. I just wanted to hug him, the poor, poor boy. Jack and Daniel adopt him, right?

Prodigy
OK, this must have been the Hot!Daniel episode. Oh, he wasn't even in it. Damn. But how much did I love Sam's interaction with the cadet? Lots! They had great (non-sexual) chemistry. Also, at some point during this season I began to notice how pretty Sam's eyes are. This seems as good a time to mention that as any. You know, I'd sleep with any one of SG-1, but Sam is who I'd pick to be stranded on a desert island with. And not just because she's the one who'd think of a way to get home.

Entity
An alien computer program takes over Sam's brain. Ick. This episode sucked except that when they were having a meeting prior to the brain-grab, Sam and Daniel were sitting together and their elbows were touching. Sam was clearly thinking, "Daniel is so hot!" I did like the voice of the speech synthesizer -- it was nicely sinister.

Double Jeopardy
Daniel was hot until he got decapitated. How lovely to see the robot doubles again! The Jack-Jack interaction was the most entertaining thing this season. And when Robot!Teal'c looked at Meat!Teal'c and said, "For our father" I got all misty. Sam didn't seem very freaked out -- I guess she got all her double issues worked out over her alternate universe self last season.

Exodus
I'd seen this ep before and I think I commented on it then. But some things bear repeating: Who blows up a fucking sun? Jeez! Also, who falls for the fucking "sick prisoner" trick? The Tok'ra should watch more TV. Daniel was hot, but it was 15 minutes into the ep before he even had a line. Tanith was also hot.

BONUS SEASON 6 EPISODE

I'm now getting S6 on Saturday nights. Of course, I've not seen S5, but I'll cope.

Redemption, Part 1
I need to know -- what's the politically correct opinion to hold about Jonas? Because I thought he was really cute. And McKay was cool. I look forward to seeing his introduction in S5. But was there a plot? Stargate tied up, about to explode, blah blah blah. Meanwhile, Teal'c's wife dies offstage so they don't have to pay the actress and he lets his kid beat him up instead of giving him a clip across the ear. Teal'c really does let his guilt get the better of him. Perhaps he needs therapy.