Gillian’s blog – Page 6 – Gillian's Notebook

Gillian Reviews Predestination

My roommate and I watched Predestination, a movie based on the short story “-All You Zombies-” by Robert A. Heinlein.

When I first heard of this movie and what it was based on, I was interested in seeing it. The one trailer I saw made the movie look action heavy and was focused on the Fizzle Bomber who isn’t a character in the short story. I assumed the filmmakers had taken the basic idea and changed almost everything else. The movie is actually very faithful to the short story and expands it without rewriting it into a different story. The Fizzle Bomber plotline shows up mostly at the beginning and end and a few scenes in the middle but it doesn’t overwhelm the story like I thought it would.

Even going into the movie basically knowing the entire story, I still really enjoyed it. If you like smart time travel movies, then you will probably like this movie.

Rating 5/5

Can You Give Away Your First Kiss in a Dream?

I dreamt I gave away my first kiss. I’ve never kissed anyone romantically, in real life that is, in other dreams I have but this was different. When I say “first kiss”, I mean it felt like the first time I had ever kissed someone. It felt real, like a different life that was my life.

The dream started as this team building exercise at a company I was working at. The first “game” was a simple scavenger hunt for one item which I found almost immediately and returned to the meeting room. A woman sat down next to me and said, “I’m glad to not be the only one here at the company anymore.”

“I’m sorry have we met?” I asked honestly unsure.

She didn’t say her name but she explained she was also a trans woman. We talked and she touched my shoulder and arm saying, “I miss being close to other trans girls.”

“I’ve never had the chance to be close with another trans girl,” I said.

She withdrew her hands at that but I reached out for her hand and we held hands fingers intertwined. She snuggled up close to me. Whispering into my neck. I turned to face her and our lips were so close. I hesitated unsure if I should. Then I took the plunge and closed the final couple of inches. It was my first kiss. My aim was a little low, I kissed her lower lip mostly, I didn’t know how hard to press or if I should open my mouth. I pulled back, she smiled and leaned in for another kiss.

The dream dissolves after that. There was a dance number I stayed out of. A game show of dangerous stunts which turned out to be harmless. A short film about the evolution of a Siberian zoo over the years. But none of it as memorable as “my first kiss”.

I feel like I’ve lost something. Part of me wonders if I wasn’t visited by a succubus or minor spirit because of how vivid and tactile the dream was. After I woke up, I cried because I was alone, then I wrote down the dream.

Cloverfield – Review

Ok, so I’m only like nine years late with watching this move but 10 Cloverfield Lane is on Hulu so I thought I’d watch Cloverfield before watching the “sequel”.

For starters, it has been a while since shaky cam has given me a headache, so long in fact that I almost didn’t realize why my head started hurting. I don’t know if newer movies have “fixed” this problem but it hasn’t been an issue for me for some time. Or maybe I just haven’t been watching movies with a lot of shaky cam.

Beyond the movie causing me actual physical pain, I was also in mental pain watching this so called found footage movie. Most found footage movies have a reason that the cameraman keeps filming. They’re making a documentary or they’re a journalist or they’re trying to document something specific. Hud, our cameraman, starts filming a party and when the giant monster attacks the city he just keeps filming. Not a bad premise but he films everything. He films when they’re walking along the subway lines, when they’re just standing around talking, when his friends are pushing against a door to keep out the little monsters; he just keeps filming. There are so many times when he should be using two hands to do something and he just keeps filming.

And once he’s dead you would think that would be the end of the tape. Nope cause then his friend picks up the camera from his dead body and starts filming everything. He films himself and his girlfriend huddling under a bridge. In that scene he has to be holding the camera up at eye level. Why? Why would he do that?

Another problem I had with the movie is near the end after they have rescued Beth from her building, where she was impaled on some rebar, And everyone starts running toward the military. Everyone is faster than Hud. Even the woman who was impaled through the chest can run faster than the cameraman. How is that possible? I understand it’s so the filmmakers can have a shot of everyone running to the military but come on.

I’ll admit the monster looked cool and when it was on screen smashing stuff the movie was enjoyable but these moments were short and fleeting.

So overall: shaky cam bad, cameraman motivation bad, monster cool.

Rating: 1/5

Review – Arrival

Twelve alien ships appear around the world. Louise Banks, a linguist, is brought by the army to one of the ships and attempts to communicate with the aliens.

I watched this movie last night and I am blown away. I love stories that play with the audience’s perceptions or preconceptions. I really can’t say more without spoiling the movie.

Rating: 5/5

One Year Website Anniversary

One year ago, I created my website Gillian’s Notebook, www.Gillian-Ybabez.com. I started off reposting older stories before posting a mix of new and older stories in March. By April I was posting three new stories a week and continued to do so through September. October and November I cut back to three stories every other week. And then I took a couple months off posting stories.

I’m doing things a little different this year. I’m posting two stories a week, eight stories a month, February through December, plus a couple to round out the total to ninety stories. My first story of this new writing year has been posted for patrons on my Patreon. It will be posted on my site a week later.

I’m still working on the anthology of revised and edited stories from 2016 that I plan to put up for sell in March.

Quick Review – Taco Bell “Naked Chicken Chalupa”

2017-01-26 22.20.48 2017-01-26 22.21.33

So, I decided to try Taco Bell’s “Naked Chicken Chalupa”. It’s a pretty basic idea, remove the “bread” base of a fast food item and replace it with a slab (or two) of meat. In this case, it’s a chalupa with it’s tortilla shell replaced with a crispy chicken shell and just lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and some sort of proprietary Taco Bell sauce.

Normally, I would squeeze on a packet of hot sauce but I wanted to experience the chalupa as it was made. The chicken shell is thin and crispy but a little salty. Not having a substantial filling detracts from the experience but not greatly. Overall it’s not as good as a regular chalupa from Taco Bell but still edible.

Rating: 2/5

Writer/Patreon update

Last year, I wrote and published close to 90 stories on my site. I started around March putting out three stories a week. In September, I cut back to every other week as I started to feel depressed and couldn’t keep up with my previous output. I may, also, have had mild burnout. In November, I barely made my quota and realized I would not be able to do so in December. A large factor at that time was how busy my retail job had become during the holidays. So, I took December off and planned to take January off as well and return to writing in February.

A few days ago I started thinking about revising one of my stories. And then I restarted putting together an anthology of stories from last year. Also, I took everything I learned in the last year and worked out a plan for the rest of the coming year.

Starting in February I’m going to be posting two stories a week four times a month to my Patreon. Non-patreons can read them a week later on my site. I plan to keep this schedule through December. Eleven months, eight stories a month is eighty-eight stories. Because of how irregular months are there will be a few months that will have a skip week and I’m adding a couple of stories to make it a nice round ninety stories. I’m already planning on writing ahead so I can take a break again in the fall/winter and work on a second anthology of stories to be out early 2018. Patrons also get copies of the ebooks.

I hope to have the anthology I’m working on right now out around March.

My Patreon is currently on hiatus, since December, until I resume posting in February. If I keep to my schedule, there will be only one month, January, that I don’t post anything. I’ll be asking my Patrons how they would like me to handle that month.

UFO Sighting

I’m not saying it was an alien spacecraft, just that I don’t know what it was and it was flying.

Last night I was walking home from work around 8pm. In my peripheral vision, I saw a light moving. It was blueish white, not as bright as the street lights but much bigger than the visible stars and much bigger than airplane lights. It was more like a glow than a beam of light. The light appeared above the trees moving downward but might also have been moving away from me. It moved too slowly to have been a meteorite. One or two seconds after I turned to look at it, it seemed to shrink and disappear like a circle being turned on its edge or a closing eye.

All in all a rather tame sighting.

Batman v Superman Review and Reaction Post

I watched Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I know it’s old news and I’ve missed the boat to write anything original about this movie but I thought it would be fun to write down my reactions as I watched the movie. I am going to preface my reactions with a short review.

I’m tore about whether I like this movie or not. Superman is a weird Christ-like figure who is conflicted about being a Christ-like figure but doesn’t do anything to dispel that image of himself to the public. His mother tells him he’s can be the hero or not because he doesn’t owe people anything. A message that pairs nicely with the lesson his father tried to teach him last movie about letting kids drown in a bus to protect his secret.

As much as I hated Superman in this movie, I loved Batman just as much. Batman is shown to be the urban legend, almost supernatural being, and the World’s Greatest Detective. Alfred is a joy to watch interacting with him. This is the best Batman I have ever seen, not counting Batman the Animated Series. It’s very obvious that this was meant to be Batman’s movie and if Superman’s characterization had not been broody angst man, it would have been a truly excellent movie. As it is, Superman brings down the movie to just good enough.

Rating: 5/5 for Batman and 1/5 for Superman. Wonder Woman gets a 3/5 for showing up.

And now for my reactions: (beware of spoilers beyond this point) Continue reading “Batman v Superman Review and Reaction Post”

Hearts or Crosses

I had a weird interaction at work today in the jewelry department. I showed a woman a necklace with a heart pendent but the chain wasn’t long enough for her. As I was putting it back in the case on one pad, she asked to see another necklace on a different pad.

Customer: Can I see the one with two hearts?

Me: (Looks at jewelry pad she is pointing at. I don’t see a necklace with two hearts.) Which one?

Customer: The one with two hearts.

Me: (Still looking, still don’t see necklace with two hearts. See necklace with two crosses.) The one with two crosses?

Customer: No, two hearts. It’s the second from the left.

Me: (Second necklace from left is the one with two crosses. I reach into the case and touch the necklace with two crosses.) This one?

Customer: Yes.

Me: Those are crosses.

Customer: That’s what I said. Wait, what was I saying?

Me: You said hearts.

Customer: No, I was saying crosses.

I let it drop after that because there is nothing to be gained from arguing with a customer but I did kind of wonder which of us was hearing and/or saying the wrong thing. Was she saying crosses the whole time and I heard it as hearts? Was she saying hearts but thinking she was saying crosses? Was I saying hearts? Was it some weird mix?

Part of me wants to believe I was hearing everything correctly but part of me knows human perception and memory are fallible. I have never wanted to have recorded a conversation more.