Come On Guys, Make it Believable!

It's funny how invasive time is.

A few weeks ago I had things under control and I was able to spend time doing this little exercise every day. Then I got busy and missed all but two days last week. This week I feel as if things are under better control again, so we'll see. Of course, month-end close is coming and that will probably throw a wrench into the works.

It's pretty much how my letter writing to my mom went. Sometimes I was pretty good, at least once a week or so. Other times I'd go for a while - until getting the 'you never write!' message. She was profoundly deaf (stone deaf) so calling wasn't an option, but that was okay. I never did learn to like talking on the phone. Still don't like it, not even with people I do like. It's just awkward. I'd rather write a letter or meet face-to-face.

But I digress. If one can from something like this... Oops, sorry. There I go again.

Last night I stayed up later than I should have because I was watching one of the Bourne movies. This was the 'Bourne Legacy' - the after, after of the Bourne trilogy and, as a writer, I saw plot holes through which I could drive a train. I wasn't thrilled with the opening third, either.

Don't get me wrong - as action movies go, it lived up to the genre. It's just that the open was so far out in left field, from the man alone in the Alaskan wilderness to the meeting in Washington DC which is only one of a couple of places where Bourne is actually shown and named or discussed. It was disjointed and it took me longer to engage than it should have. If I didn't like action movies, or if I hadn't already seen the three predecessors to this, I would have been completely lost.

As it was, the opening scene with the body lying on the surface of water - lake, river or ocean wasn't immediately clear - was so reminiscent of the first Bourne movie that it was confusing. There was a moment when hubby wondered if we were back there, starting over.

It did start to make some sense, eventually, and it turned out to be a marginally better than average action movie, although some parts in the final scenes were utterly ridiculous. Whatever. It's popcorn for the mind.

The guy who played the male lead in this wasn't as hot as the first guy who ended up dead. I don't know who he was but... (sexist thoughts).

The premise was good but the problems I had were that I have read a lot of Ludlum's books, and Clancy's books and a whole lot of other action / thrillers with misunderstood or misrepresented people on the run from the government that wants to kill them. The problem with that is that I spent the hour after the movie ended picking it apart.

Why, if he's so damned smart, wouldn't he assume that the government is going to be able to track them down?

There's a massive fire yet the government is able to immediately identify one of the bodies burned in that fire as not the person they expected? Gimme a break. The good guy spread kerosene all over the place in mass quantities and the bodies weren't burned beyond recognition? Gimme a break. They would have been toast and only dental records would have helped identify who was who. And the shell casings would have melted and fallen through the floor into the basement - they wouldn't have survived a fire like that.

So, given the facts that:

1) The bad guys wouldn't be able to get into the building for hours since the fire would have to be put out and the burning hot spots cooled;
2) The structure would have collapsed over, around and on top of the dead bodies and soaking wet debris and char would have had to be cleared to get to them;
3) The heat in a fire like that - there was no furniture or anything to obstruct the flames from engulfing the bodies - would have burned all of the clothing, hair and soft tissue, leaving only charred bones behind. It would require forensic reconstruction to identify gender and dental records to identify the individual.

Even with all the resources of the government there are some physical facts that can't be ignored, like these. Thus, the head start by our hero and heroine would have been more like two or three days than 'seventeen hours' as the film had it.

Then, knowing that the government has photographs of both of them on file, since they both worked for the government. And knowing that there are surveillance and security cameras everywhere these days, why did he - this super-duper special agent - not take the basic precautions of changing appearance? Haircut and dye job for her. A little gauze in her cheeks to change the planes of her face. A stoop to her walk, boring glasses instead of trendy-now frames that flatter her face, slightly too-big dowdy clothes, etc. A couple of days of beard growth for him, loose clothes to hide the studly body, etc.

Why fly direct from here to there? Why not ditch the car at the airport, use one of the fake passports and licenses he's carrying around to hire a rental and drive off - heading toward Detroit or Chicago or somewhere else with an airport? Why fly direct from here to there and make the trail so easy to follow? Why not fly from Chicago or Detroit to... oh, I dunno, Vancouver to Tokyo to... Or to Phoenix to Mexico City to...

So this is what I lay awake thinking of. I know, I know. It's not literature. It's popcorn, but it still bothers me. Yes, I enjoyed it, but these were the things that stuck out.

At least the first couple of Bourne movies had more of an air of mystery, a slightly higher level of believability. Particularly the drawn out scene in Movie No. 2 in which Simon Ross buys it. Now that was great intensity and, because it was so well done, was brought into this movie as a tie.

At least in the first one, 'The Bourne Identity' Our Hero does the things I would expect him to do. Yes, in that, he kidnaps the girl, she's terrified but he keeps her safe - cuts and dyes her hair for one thing, teaches her how to hide in plain sight, etc.

Anyway. So that was my evening and night. Evening spent watching the movie and more time at night picking it apart.

Would I watch it again? Yes. But I'd rather see just about any of the Bond movies or any of the other Bourne movies with Matt Damon.

So, that's that.

Now I've got piles of work around and in front of me. Fortunately, I slept well this weekend and turned the first alarm off this morning - slept until five-thirty instead of just until four-forty-five - so I'm not wiped out.

I've got my list compiled - all the documents that have to be approved for clearing - through December 2015. It's not as bad as I thought. I thought it would be far more than it is, but it's still more than 400 documents. And that doesn't include what's accumulated since January 1st.

I'll break it up by individual responsible and send those out to the individuals. Hopefully it will shock them when they see how much is out there, and that shock will encourage them to get on it. Otherwise it'll be the persistent nag feature.

I do have a lot - a couple of inches worth - that aren't on the list but that can be cleared, so I'll work on that today and tomorrow. Speaking of which...

Have a wonderful day!

Best~
Philippa

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Waltzing Puppies and Silly Movies

Was I supposed to laugh out loud at Independence Day?

There was no baseball on last night and nothing else worth watching, so my hubby had Mission Impossible on when I got home from work yesterday. I like James Bond better and the ending... So stupid. It's the one where Jon Voigt kills everybody, pretends he was a victim, too, shoots his wife or lover after making sure she knows how contemptuous he thinks she is. Then he runs away, trying to escape from the London to Paris express train by catching a passing helicopter. The helicopter ends up inside the Chunnel - after clipping its rotors on the edge of the tunnel entrance.

Sorry, folks - wrong! From everything I've read, and from my little experience in a cartoon video game that's supposed to emulate how a helicopter looks and feels - heck, the video screen even had the blades whirring around the top! - helicopters are like totally unstable. If you clip something like a concrete wall with your rotors, you will lose control and probably crash. Particularly if you're only twenty or so feet above the ground because there's no room to maneuver. There are no stabilizers in a helicopter. It was pure-d Dumb. Yet another movie at which I laughed out loud. Bad writing, bad acting, no real story that wasn't easily predicted. All about the special effects for fourteen year old boys. Whatever. Then we watched Independence Day, which I've never seen before.

The special effects were good but, oh my God! The acting and the writing? God awful! Contrived and awkward, silly to the point of head shakingly bad (there goes that whiplash again!).

How amazing that even though there's a concussive shock wave from the White House imploding, the presidential helicopter has no problem taking off. Same with the fire when Air Force One is taking off - missed by just tha-aaat much. Oh, and the dame in the tunnel with her kid and dog? Nope - that explosion didn't cook her and her kid, didn't suck all of the oxygen from the space she manages to get into and thank God Fido didn't even get singed when he leapt through the door with the fireball missing him by tha-aaat much! And then, the president's wife survives it all only to die from internal bleeding about twenty hours after being injured. That is one seriously slow bleed. Oh! But it did allow for a touching scene in which she and her hubby say good-bye over their little daughter's head. Or something like that. I went upstairs to pee when the doc said 'there's nothing we can do.' Yeah, I know. Life support ain't gonna help this thing so I came back down with my iPad, even though hubby disapproved, and I played games for the next couple of hours.

Okay, enough of that. Next time I want to watch something silly...

Sorry if those are on your hit parade. When I want comedy, I prefer that it be clearly labeled as such. If it's action thriller, like Casino Royale or any of the other, older James Bonds movies, at least make it believable. Make sure there's a story line and at least some acting. And even though I know the good guys will win at the end of it, give me enough doubt that I want confirmation.

Another decent series are the Bourne movies. I like those, and not just because of the eye candy actor (don't even know his name). Matt Damon, maybe? There's a fight scene in the first one that is really well done and even though it's contrived and silly, it's so well done I don't care. In the next, he's guiding this guy through a crowded mall someplace, directing him by cell phone, while the bad guys and a sniper are trying to take him (Damon's character) or the guy he's guiding out. It was a tense couple of minutes as you can just about feel the terror this mark feels. He knows these bad guys are out there and that there's a sniper looking for him. That's the kind of action I like. That not quite sure he's gonna make it action.

Did you ever see the movie Charlie Varrick? That's a good movie with action without much at all in the way of Hollywood special effects, and it has a good, solid twist at the end. So does The Woman in the Window with Edward G. Robinson. The end of that took me completely by surprise the first time I saw it.

Okay, let's get away from that and get back to the waltzing puppies. I'm actually quite pleased with myself after yesterday. My projects are at about the 40/80 stage. That's not bad.

I made myself start on the one I didn't want to do, the MS Project fix, and spent about three hours working on that one.

I made a good start. The new tables are set up and partially populated. I've decided on colors so that if someone opens any of them up, despite the file names being highly specific, it will clue them in to which table they're looking at. I even got started on manipulating the data.

As of yesterday noon, when I put it aside, the Immediate Needs table has data from the first two files, the Long-Term Needs table has the same for the longer term needs, and the 100% Complete table has it's data. I'll work on that exclusively this morning so that, hopefully, by the end of the day I'll have something I can turn over to the director who's requested it.

The other project, the training show, went pretty well. But have you ever tried standing a puppy on its head and making it waltz in a different direction? It's hard!

Because of the change of focus and how I need to present this, I couldn't just move things around. There was quite a lot of re-writing needed, too - to soften it and make more pablum than meat so folks won't get their backs up.

That one is about 80% done. I'll do a walk-through with the director who's directing this one, and then make any changes suggested. No matter what, this has got to be done by Monday afternoon. That's when I have my Guinea Pig session in front of the six early bird people. I also need to get my cheat sheets ready - to make sure I know what I want to cover in what order in case I get stage fright and get lost.

After that, there are four more sessions and, I think, I've got a total of about twenty-five people signed up for those. Naturally, there are still some laggards out there, but it's only about seven or eight, so I'll capture them later. I have time since the last session isn't until the 18th.

The good news is that the external microphone I ordered arrived yesterday. It wasn't supposed to get here until next Tuesday, so maybe I can get the voiceover done this weekend. Or not. It occurs to me that with the guinea pigs on Monday, I might want to wait, to see if there are any glaring changes that come out of that session.

We'll see. Then it's the weekend - thank goodness! And it's not going to be blisteringly hot which it has been this week.

Now, though, I need to get running - have a lovely day!

Best~
Philippa

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