Hello, My Friends!
This week’s blog is less about what I’ve been doing and more about my opinions on things. I’ve kept my views to myself out on the social media circuit (circus?), but this is my house, so I can be a little more open.
As for what I’ve been doing, I’ve been working hard on 3D training. This week has been about the shrink wrap modifier, re-topology, baking textures, and so forth in Blender, and formatting custom costumes and props to fit characters in Daz3D with the Transfer Utility. It’s daunting, because no matter how hard I study it seems like there is no end in sight of all the things I need to learn to make this 3D fascination a reality.
A few nights ago I had a marathon writing session where I wrote about two thousand words on the Apex Killers in one session. This is unusual for me because I usually have time for spits and spurts of writing between interruptions, but this time I flipped into some different mental state of being and the word came. Very satisfying. I wish I knew how to bottle and replicate this mode of being.
The Saturday before last, Benita and I picked out new lights for the kitchen and the front and back doors. It figured it would take a few hours of work to install them all, and then we could get on with our activities for the day. I’m sure you can sense where I’m going with this. One kitchen ceiling light turned into an all day job, called for an extra trip to the hardware store, and even then I am going to have to re-do part of it. I had never installed a ceiling light before, but now I know better what I’m getting myself into. My main complaints? When they built this house they did not install junction boxes above the kitchen lights, and the new lights are much more fragile than I would have ever figured.
My mom got me a year’s subscription to Amazon Prime, and this is a wonderful thing when you consider how much we order from there. I also used it as an excuse to watch the most recent James Bond film, Spectre. It was good, as are most James Bond films, but not outrageously good. I liked Skyfall better. I appreciate that with the Daniel Craig Bond films they have tried to work out the back story, supporting characters, and Bond’s own psychology better. Still, this had the feel of being a filler movie to me, sort of like the middle installments of many trilogies are.
I am not all that sure what has changed about the Marvel Netflix shows for me. I’ve made it about three episodes each through Jessica Jones II, the Punisher, and I have almost no interest in the new Luke Cage. My viewing habits have changed, I suppose. At one time I was a solid fan on most of these shows. The gloss wore off for me during Iron Fist (I didn’t enjoy it much, and didn’t like the adaptation of Danny Rand), the Defenders (spotty, with great moments at infrequent intervals), and Luke Cage I (like two unrelated seasons crammed together, and at least one jump the shark moment). I did not have access to the Inhumans, and I have not had the will to pick back up on Agents of Shield, two Marvel shows not on Netflix. There may be more Marvel shows on, but they are on other subscription services, I think.
Now that you mention it, DC’s shows are up and down. I’ve watched all of Arrow, Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow so far. But, I did not check in the for latest season of Supergirl, and I have not gone back to finish the last four or five episodes of Black Lightning. Of the others, I saw about three episodes of Gotham, I missed Krypton, and I’m not sure what else is out there. Have the Titans debuted yet? I don’t think so.
Who knows why we like some stuff and not other stuff. When you consider my history for the last twenty years you would think that any superhero television or movie would be just great for me. It’s not so. When you think about my lifelong fascination with the Middle Ages you would think Game of Thrones would be as compelling for me. I have watched the first season, and I enjoyed it, but a lot of time has passed and I have not sought out the later seasons. Why is that?
If we could answer these questions of taste then we would also know how to write blockbuster books at every attempt for readers. It would be like a formula, and those who knew it would be able to virtually print money. To my knowledge nothing has ever worked that way. Bummer.