Perforated Cookie Dough, Head Android in Charge, and Tom Hiddleston teaches me to read

Don’t Dis the Android

Lazy day yesterday.  I got up early both days this weekend to get my writing in before the house woke up, which worked really well, except for the fact that I was really dragging in the afternoon.  I made cookies from packaged cookie dough, where the dough was in a rectangle, scored with lines so you just had to break them up into little squares and put them on the cookie sheet.  Still managed to space them wrong so they mushed together, looking like dividing cookie cells.  I ate them before they could divide further into a little cookie embryo, because I just can’t handle that kind of moral gray area.

Spent a lot of time on the couch, watching TV.  We’ve still got Olympics in the TiVo, which is fun to watch now with no pressure to see everything before the spoilers come up on the news the next day.

We also watched some Next Gen episodes, specifically Gambit (both parts).

If you’re not familiar, Riker and Picard are kidnapped by space pirates and have to finagle their way to defeat them without getting killed.  Some of my favorite things:

– Data in Command.  Yes, I’m a bit of a Data ‘shipper, but dude, he’s an awesome captain.  Riker’s all Rikering around, chewing scenery, and Data’s calmly figuring things out, waiting for the right moment, and putting the smackdown on Worf, who’s being totally insubordinate.  (Their little makeup scene is awkward, emotionless, and totally sweet).  I’d like to think that Brent Spiner was intolerable while shooting this episode, totally drunk with power. 🙂

– I never realized how much time they spend explaining things on that show.

– “Acting.”  Lots of it.  It starts with Troi trying to coyly coax information out of a guy in a bar by using her Feminine Wiles, which sound a bit like a prepared speech by the Director of Operations at his quarterly staff meeting.  I seriously thought it was one of those episodes that starts off with them acting in a play, and that she was behaving that way on purpose.

– Sabrina LeBeuf as Ensign NotWesley!  Stiff as a freakin’ board.

-Koral, the Klingon pilot, who doesn’t say a word, but steals every scene he’s in.

– When I looked up this episode in the Star Trek Wiki to link to it here, I noticed that the guy they get to inform on the pirates is named Yranac, which is “canary” backwards.  I loved that.

More Books!  Must have more books!

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m attempting to fulfill a pledge I made on Goodreads to read 50 books this year.  I’m at 35 now.  While I could possibly read 15 books in the next 6 weeks, I don’t think it’s very likely.  And if I did, I wouldn’t get much out of them.

I’m a very fast reader, which is great because there are so many great books out there to be read.  But the downside is that I tend to skim if I go too fast.

For example, when I saw Fellowship of the Ring in the theatres, I originally thought that Peter Jackson had taken liberties with the plot, since I didn’t remember any of the scenes in the movie from when I read the book.  Obviously, he didn’t (there would probably have been dire consequences).  I just skimmed a lot of that book.  I actually skimmed most of the series, to be honest.

I recently saw this interview with Tom Hiddleston, and was really struck by it*.

It’s clear he has a great love for film and theatre, and a lot of respect for the form.  I’m thinking I can stand to improve that within myself, for written stories.  It’s not enough to just read a lot.  I need to read well.

So now I’m thinking that next year, I’ll set my goal very low, like 25 books, but take time and savor all of them.  Maybe I’ll read them more than once.  Maybe I’ll blog about them, or take notes as I go.  I definitely need to stop and reflect, both as a reader and an apprentice writer (which we all are, until we die or win the Pulitzer).

That will also save a bunch of money.

*Other things I loved about that interview:

1. Tom Hiddleston.  He’s charming, intelligent, and talented.  In my next life, I want to be a male British actor.  I have so much respect for that tradition.  Plus, I’d sound really cool.
2. I loved how he kept commening on how he admired his fellow actors’ courage.  I need to be courageous as an artist, too.  We all do.
3. I also liked what he said about his life changing when he started to believe, and open his mind to the possibilities.